Chaos reconsidered : the liberal order and the future of international politics

The shock of Donald Trump’s election caused many observers to ask whether the liberal international order―the system of institutions and norms established after World War II―was coming to an end. The victory of Joe Biden, a committed institutionalist, suggested that the liberal order would endure. Even so, important questions remained: Was Trump an aberration? Is Biden struggling in vain against irreparable changes in international politics? What does the future hold for the international order? The essays in Chaos Reconsidered answer those questions. Leading scholars assess the domestic and global effects of the Trump and Biden presidencies. The historians put the Trump years and Biden’s victory in historical context. Regional specialists evaluate U.S. diplomacy in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Others foreground topics such as global right-wing populism, the COVID-19 pandemic, racial inequality, and environmental degradation. International relations theorists reconsider the nature of international politics, pointing to deficiencies in traditional IR methods for explaining world events and Trump’s presidency in particular. Together, these experts provide a comprehensive analysis of the state of U.S. alliances and partnerships, the durability of the liberal international order, the standing and reputation of the United States as a global leader, the implications of China’s assertiveness and Russia’s aggression, and the prospects for the Biden administration and its successors. Table of Contents Introduction, by Robert Jervis, Diane N. Labrosse, Stacie E. Goddard, and Joshua Rovner Part I. Trump and International Relations Theory 1. The Trump Experiment: An Assessment, by Robert Jervis 2. Trump Huffed and Puffed, and Liberal International Relations Theory Blew Down, by Michael N. Barnett 3. America First? The Erosion of American Status Under Trump, by Michelle Murray 4. Has Trump Changed How We Think About American Security?, by Deborah Avant 5. Trump’s Realism, by Randall Schweller Part II. America First 6. When Donald Met Washington: The Genesis of “Great-Power Competition”, by Emma Ashford 7. What Trump’s Nationalism Ended Up Looking Like, by Thomas W. Zeiler 8. Trump’s Presidency as History, by Ryan Irwin 9. Globalism and U.S. Foreign Relations After Trump, by Frank Ninkovich 10. The Derangements of Sovereignty: Trumpism and the Dilemmas of Interdependence, by Samuel Zipp 11. The Trump Presidency in Historical Perspective, by John A. Thompson Part III. American Institutions and Alliances After Trump 12. Presidents, Precedents, and the Laws of War, by Matthew Evangelista 13. Trump to the Intelligence Community: You’re Fired, by Richard Immerman 14. The Trump Administration and Economic Sanctions, by Nicholas Mulder 15. Donald Trump and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Deal, by Susan Colbourn 16. Trump’s Transactional Follies: The Consequences of Treating the Arms Trade Like a Business, by Jennifer Spindel Part IV. Trump Abroad 17. Trump and Russia: Less Than Meets the Eye, by Angela Stent 18. Trump and U.S.-China Strategic Competition as the “New” Normal, by Jonathan DiCicco 19. Engage? Trump and the Asia-Pacific, by Dayna Barnes 20. Riding the Rollercoaster: India and the Trump Years, by Tanvi Madan 21. Swaggering Home: Trump, Grenell, and Pompeo in Conflict with Germany, by William Gray 22. Death-Grip Handshakes and Flattery Diplomacy: The Macron-Trump Connection and Its Larger Implications for Alliance Politics, by Kathryn Statler 23. “Mr. Brexit”: Donald Trump and the United Kingdom’s Departure from the European Union, by Lindsay Aqui 24. The Trump Administration and the Middle East: Not Much Change, Not Much Success, by F. Gregory Gause III 25. Fences Make Bad Hombres: Trump and Latin America, by Christy Thornton Part V. The Expanding Meaning of International Security: Human Rights, Racial Justice, and COVID-19 26. “Shithole Countries”: Was Trump’s Foreign Policy Racist?, by William I. Hitchcock 27. Rethinking Vulnerability: Structural Inequality as National Insecurity, by Jason Ludwig and Rebecca Slayton 28. Lifting the Veil on Racial Capitalism: American Foreign Policy Before and After Trump, by Nivi Manchanda 29. Racialized Threats and Security Rationales in U.S. Immigration Policies, by Audie Klotz 30. The Trump Presidency, the Question of Palestine, and Biden’s Business as Usual, by A. Dirk Moses and Victor Kattan 31. The Trump Administration’s Insidious Approach to Human Rights, by Sarah B. Snyder Part VI. Is Liberal Internationalism Still Alive? 32. Trump’s Foreign Policy Legacy, by Joshua Busby and Jonathan Monten 33. “America First” Meets Liberal Internationalism, by Stephen Chaudoin, Helen V. Milner, and Dustin Tingley 34. Liberal Internationalism and Partisan Conflict in the Post-Trump United States, by George N. Georgarakis and Robert Y. Shapiro Part VII. Looking Forward: The Prospects for Joe Biden’s Presidency 35. The Biden Administration and Russia: Deeper Into a U.S.-Russia Cold War, by Robert Legvold 36. Joe Biden, American Democracy, and the China Challenge, by James Goldgeier 37. Transatlantic Relations After Trump: Mutual Perceptions and Strategy in Historical Perspective, by Alessandro Brogi 38. One Eye on the Rearview Mirror: The Middle East from Trump to Biden, by James Stocker 39. Reclaiming America and Its Place in the World, by Elizabeth Economy Part VIII. Coda 40. World History, the American President, and the Gibbon Paradox, by Jeremy Adelman 41. Trump’s Limited Legacy, by Lawrence Freedman 42. American Constraints: Trump’s “Legacy” or Inexorable History, by Charles S. Maier 43. Making Trump History, by Martin Conway List of Contributors Index "In this collection, thirty top scholars in international politics ask: did Trump weaken the liberal international order, or did he simply expose problems that were always lying beneath the surface? Did he ruin the U.S. reputation by treating politics as a zero-sum game, or did he simply confirm foreign suspicions that the American-led order was always a façade for American power? And, will the Trump presidency have lasting consequences for international politics, or will we remember it as a bizarre and temporary detour? The essays explore these crucial theoretical questions about the liberal international order as well as the impact of major world events, including the rise of global movements for women's rights, racial justice, and environmental protection, and a global pandemic that put international cooperation under tremendous strain. Contributors also explore the prospects for the new Biden administration, looking at what diplomatic history and international relations theory tell us about the future of the U.S. in the world, and what tools and insights can the security studies community provide to make sense of this evolving situation. What assumptions about a range of topics - including alliances, multilateralism, nuclear policy, regional dynamics, international law, civil-military affairs, escalation, human rights, and globalization - demand attention in the aftermath of the 2020 election? This book does not provide mere instant analyses of the 2020 election; instead, it seeks to put the Trump presidency in historical and theoretical context and to chart out the possibilities for what comes next"-- Provided by publisher The shock of Donald Trump's election caused many observers to askwhether the liberal international order-the system of institutionsand norms established after World War II-was coming to an end. Thevictory of Joe Biden, a committed institutionalist, suggested thatthe liberal order would endure. Even so, important questionsremained: Was Trump an aberration? Is Biden struggling in vainagainst irreparable changes in international politics? What doesthe future hold for the international order? The essays inChaos Reconsidered answer those questions. Leadingscholars assess the domestic and global effects of the Trump andBiden presidencies. The historians put the Trump years and Biden'svictory in historical context. Regional specialists evaluate U.S.diplomacy in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and LatinAmerica. Others foreground topics such as global right-wingpopulism, the COVID-19 pandemic, racial inequality, andenvironmental degradation. International relations theoristsreconsider the nature of international politics, pointing todeficiencies in traditional IR methods for explaining world eventsand Trump's presidency in particular. Together, these expertsprovide a comprehensive analysis of the state of U.S. alliances andpartnerships, the durability of the liberal international order,the standing and reputation of the United States as a globalleader, the implications of China's assertiveness and Russia'saggression, and the prospects for the Biden administration and itssuccessors