Great Powers and World Order: Patterns and Prospects

Great Powers and World Order encourages critical thinking about the nature of world order by presenting the historical information and theoretical concepts needed to make projections about the global future.  Charles W. Kegley and Gregory Raymond ask students to compare retrospective cases and formulate their own hypotheses about not only the causes of war, but also the consequences of peace settlements. Historical case studies open a window to see what strategies for constructing world order were tried before, why one course of action was chosen over another, and how things turned out. By moving back and forth in each case study between history and theory, rather than treating them as separate topics, the authors hope to situate the assumptions, causal claims, and policy prescriptions of different schools of thought within the temporal domains in which they took root, giving the reader a better sense of why policy makers embraced a particular view of world order instead of an alternative vision.




Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors PART I: THE VIOLENT ORIGINS OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD ORDER Chapter 1 Great-Power Struggles for Primacy in the Modern Era The Westphalian Foundations of the Modern State System What Are Great Powers? Regularities in Great-Power Behavior Contending Approaches to World Order Building World Order in the Aftermath of Hegemonic War Key Terms Chapter 2 World War I and the Versailles Settlement The Origins of the First World War The Armistice and Arrangements for a Peace Conference Balance-of-Power Theory and World Order Woodrow Wilson and The Liberal Tradition in World Politics National Self-Interest Confronts Wilsonian Idealism The Versailles Settlement A World in Disarray Key Terms Chapter 3 World War II and the Birth of the Liberal Order The Origins of the Second World War Planning for a Postwar World Order Spheres-of-Influence versus Universalist Models of World Order The Political Economy of World Order A World Divided Key Terms PART II: THE FITFUL EVOLUTION OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD ORDER Chapter 4 The Cold War and Its Consequences The Origins of the Cold War The Course of the Cold War The Characteristics of the Cold War The Cold War World Order Beyond the Cold War Key Terms Chapter 5 America’s Unipolar Moment American Primacy Primacy and World Order Democratic Peace Theory and American Foreign Policy Rethinking State Sovereignty in an Era of Globalization Anticipatory Self Defense and Preventive War The Twilight of Unipolarity Key Terms Chapter 6 Unraveling the Liberal Order Donald Trump and Conservative Thought on Foreign Policy The Jacksonian Turn in American Foreign Policy Power Without Principle Key Terms PART III: FORGING A NEW WORLD ORDER Chapter 7 The Range of Great-Power Choice Viewing System Transformation in Historical Context Great-Power Options for Shaping World Order Coordinated Consultation and World Order Legitimacy and World Order Key Terms Chapter 8 Rethinking World Order Change and Continuity in Contemporary World Politics Critical Questions for World Order in the Twenty-First Century The Quest for World Order Key Terms Suggested Readings Glossary Notes Index

About the Author :
Charles W. Kegley, Jr. (Ph.D. Syracuse University, B.A. American University) is a past president of the International Studies Association, who has served on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs for the last two decades. He holds the title of Pearce Distinguished Professor of International Relations Emeritus at the University of South Carolina, where he was Chairman of the Department of Government and International Studies and Co-Chair, with former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger, of the Byrnes International Center. A former Pew Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, Kegley previously served on the faculty at Georgetown University, and has held visiting professorships at the University of Texas, Rutgers University, the People’s University of China, and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. He has served as the editor of The SAGE International Yearbook of Foreign Policy Studies, and has authored or edited over four dozen books on foreign policy and world politics, including eighteen editions of World Politics: Trend and Transformation, which has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Serbian, Spanish, and Turkish. Gregory A. Raymond (Ph.D. University of South Carolina, B.A. Park College) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Boise State University, where he was the inaugural holder of the Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs, and served as the founding director of the Honors College, Chairman of the Department of Political Science, and director of the Survey Research Center. A veteran of the U.S. Army and former Pew Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, Raymond has received Boise State’s outstanding researcher and outstanding teacher awards, served on the Idaho State Board of Education’s Higher Education Research Council, and was selected as the Idaho Professor of the Year in 1994 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He has published over 100 articles, reviews, and op-ed essays, and has lectured on international issues at universities and research institutes in 22 countries. His work has been supported by grants from the American Political Science Association, the United States Institute of Peace, the United States State Department, and other government agencies.

Review :
This book highlights the complexities within the international arena, and forces students to critically think by putting them in the You Decide driver’s seat." 
"Great Powers and World Order is a timely re-introduction to power politics in the international system. In an era when great power conflict of one type or another seems an ever-present threat, this text will help students to understand the origins and such conflicts, and ground their knowledge through thorough case-studies." 

"Consistent analytical approach. Easy for students to grasp." 
"[The text’s] writing style makes it accessible to students, and that indicates a great potential for the book to engage students and encourage them to actually read it. The authors focus on the essential knowledge and there was no fluff material that can overwhelm students. I really like the section where it presents the notion that international relations really hinges on two things – maintaining international norms and preventing aggression. Such an important understanding and presented really clearly and succinctly."


"This historically grounded textbook will introduce students to the difficulty of establishing a stable world order. [An] historical based book that presents how realism and liberalism inform how world orders are constructed."

"This new textbook by Charles W. Kegley, Jr. and Gregory Raymond brings an innovative approach to the teaching of International Relations, by interweaving historical facts with the theoretical concepts needed for their interpretations. This book can be an excellent supplemental book for undergraduate students, and a great introductory book for graduate students. As the authors stated, it can solve the problem of thinking critically and theoretically about the world order, by interweaving the presentation of ‘historical information and theoretical concepts needed to investigate its features.’" 
"A reader for students so they have pertinent information at their fingertips regarding the conflicts that have forged our world."
"[Great Powers and World Order] provides a clear chronological history of the events that led to contemporary opportunities and challenges for the world. A comprehensive text that provides students conceptual tools to make sense of the genesis and the shaping of the current global order." 

"It′s a good, solid introduction to the study of IR on the college level. It provides all the necessary basic information students need to begin their IR study, and to allow them to concentrate their future studies in areas of greatest interest to them. It is a good springboard into a lot of different directions."
"The fragile foundations of our liberal world order that is based on rules and institutions are being shaken by the great powers’ rivalries. This book is must reading for all serious students of contemporary world affairs."  "The Great Powers and World Order provides an authoritative account of the nor- mative underpinnings of international security. The rules of the road founded on the liberal world order are now under attack, and normative and institu- tional restraints are crumbling. This book presents a cogent and instructive interpretation of the prevailing problems darkening contemporary international realities."
 "Combining history and theory, Kegley and Raymond have composed a clear and insightful primer for understanding great-power politics and interna- tional relations, past and present. Their lucid descriptions of the challenges faced by officials after World War I, World War II, and the Cold War are seamlessly linked to an illumination of the policy choices that lay ahead. This is a terrific text for beginning students studying international relations." 
 "Citizens, and particularly future military officers, cannot begin to think about and study big questions and strategic issues too early. The Great Powers and World Order is an excellent introduction to these questions and issues and should be required reading for both civilian students and military officers in training."
"Informed and informative, The Great Powers and World Order provides an engaging introduction to international politics. This is the best available text addressing what is arguably the most important set of issues on the global agenda."
"In this important book, Kegley and Raymond reexamine the pillars of world order at a turbulent time when global conditions are nearing a turn-  ing point of potentially epic proportions. The Great Powers and World Order brings historical perspective and theoretical analysis to bear on the impact of momentous changes—for example, climate change, cyberwarfare, the weap- onization of outer space, and, critically, a global arena that is no longer dom- inated by Western liberal values." 
"A penetrating and timely analysis of the collision course on which the great powers are heading, which uncovers the basic tenets of international relations in the context of the eroding world order."
"Prolific scholars and creative educators, Kegley and Raymond have published many innovative textbooks with original pedagogical features about American foreign policy and world affairs. The Great Powers and World Order goes beyond provoking students to think for themselves about the important questions regarding contemporary threats to sustainable international security. It also advances important concepts that reframe theories about great-power relations in particular, and international politics generally."
"For an insightful interpretation of the threats to world order fomented by   the great powers’ return to cut-throat competition and rejection of multilateral cooperation, this evocative, compelling and accessible text provides pedagogical medicine. Highly recommended for all global citizens investigating inter- national politics."
"This book illuminates the timeless obstacles to world order whenever the great powers ruthlessly compete for hegemony, as they presently are doing as they head into perilous confrontations. Highly recommended reading for all policymakers and students of world affairs."
"Case studies of great-power rivalries since the twentieth century are deployed to exceptional pedagogical advantage to instruct students about enduring questions in today’s turbulent times. The innovative format forces students to think for themselves. This textbook is highly recommended for university courses focusing on this troubling topic on the contemporary global agenda."
"This is an outstanding book, covering critically important global issues which makes a significant and original contribution to the storehouse of available textbooks dealing with contemporary world affairs."
"The global political transformation underway will impact everyone. Study this compelling text to understand the form and consequences of past power rivalries and the critical choices before us now."