After over six decades years of relative stability, the Liberal International Order (LIO) constructed by the U.S. faces several challenges. Identify and discuss the trends, changing circumstances, and policies that have led to these current challenges, using concepts from class and the readings. Be sure to discuss specific mechanisms from the readings and framework we have used this quarter, where appropriate. Explain not only how but why the challenges pose a threat to the LIO. Be sure to address the following. Why has U.S.-European cooperation become more difficult since the end of the Cold War? What was the New World Order and why did it fail to stabilize the Middle East as hoped? What is the role of populism and the rise of China? Briefly, and by way of conclusion, explain why the Liberal International Order is worth saving — or not.

The writing should be based on the following readings:

Walter LaFeber, The American Age: U.S. Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad, 1750 to the Present (Second Edition). New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.

David A. Lake, The Statebuilder’s Dilemma: On the Limits of Foreign Intervention (Links to an external site.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2016. Available electronically through UCSD Library.

Andrew H. Kydd and Barbara F. Walter, The Strategies of Terrorism (Links to an external site.), International Security 31, 1 (2006), pp49-80.

Hal Brands and Peter Feaver, Trump and Terrorism: U.S. Strategy After ISIS (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs 96, 2 (2017: 28-36.

Jeremy Pressman, Power without Influence: The Bush Administration’s Foreign Policy Failure in the Middle East (Links to an external site.), International Security 33, 4 (2009), pp.149-79.

Dani Rodrik, Populism and the Economics of Globalization (Links to an external site.), Journal of International Business Policy 1 (2018), pp.12-33.

Walter Russell Mead, The Jacksonian Revolt: American Populism and World Order (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 96, 2 (March/April 2017), pp.2-7.

Fareed Zakaria, Populism on the March: Why the West Is in Trouble (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 95, 6 (Nov./Dec. 2016), pp.9-15.

Michael Kazin, Trump and American Populism: Old Whine, New Bottles (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 95, 6 (Nov./Dec. 2016), pp.17-24.

Cas Muddle, Europe’s Populist Surge: A Long Time in the Making, (Links to an external site.) Foreign Affairs, 95, 6 (Nov./Dec. 2016), pp.25-30.

Yuen Foong Khong, Primacy or World Order? The United States and China’s Rise – A Review Essay (Links to an external site.), International Security 38, 3 (2013/14, pp.153-75.

Randall L. Schweller and Xiaoyu Pu, After Unipolarity: China’s Visions of International Order in an Era of U.S. Decline (Links to an external site.), International Security 36, 1 (2011), pp.41-72.

Avery Goldstein, First Things First: The Pressing Danger of Crisis Instability in U.S.-China Relations (Links to an external site.), International Security 37, 4 (2013), pp.49-89.

Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Will the Liberal Order Survive? The History of an Idea (Links to an external site.), (Links to an external site.) Foreign Affairs 96, 1 (Jan./Feb. 2017), pp.10-16.

Michael Mazarr, The Once and Future Order: What Comes After Hegemony? (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 96, 1 (Jan./Feb. 2017), pp. 25-32.

John Ikenberry, The Plot Against American Foreign Policy: Can the Liberal Order Survive (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 96, 3 (May/June 2017), pp.2-9.

Jeff D. Colgan and Robert O. Keohane, The Liberal Order is Rigged: Fix It Now or Watch It Wither (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 96, 3 (May/June 2017), pp.36-44.

Randall Schweller, Three Cheers for Trump’s Foreign Policy: What the Establishment Misses (Links to an external site.), Foreign Affairs, 97, 5 (Sept./Oct. 2018), pp.133-43.