The Rise and Fall of the Eagle: An Assessment of the Liberal World Order

Everything that rises is bound to fall. The international system has been a stage for many states and different ideologies, witnessing their power struggles and efforts to ideological superiority for centuries. This new book tackles the foreign policy choices of the United States (US), which has recently dominated the international system and the liberal world order that it has sought to establish through its foreign policy.

The book addresses the hegemony debate in the international system on a realistic axis. It contributes to the literature by critically examining recent academic work of experts in their fields as well as primary resources that detail the national security strategies of the US, including national security policy documents, executive orders, archives of the White House, interviews, and remarks by US presidents. The book is thus a testament to the present state of affairs during this pivotal juncture in the history of the US and the world order.

This book also looks at the crisis in the liberal world system from the framework of the crises that lie in the foreign policy of the US, resulting in the collapsing of the liberal world order it advocates. In short, this book presents a study of how and for what purpose the liberal world order was established, how it began to rise, its connection with the US hegemony, how it has been shaken by various practices, and whether it has been successful so far.

Presenting a perspective different from the leading figures of the field of international relations, such as Mearsheimer, Walt, Waltz, and Gilpin, this book is written in an academic format aiming to be of special value to students of American foreign policy, foreign policy analysis, globalization and world politics as well as a valuable addition to college libraries and bookstores.

Çagatay Özdemir, PhD, has served at the Research Center for Foreign Policy at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) and has worked as an international board member of Med-Or Leonardo Foundation in Italy. He has given various seminars and lectures at numerous universities on American grand strategy, diplomacy, and international relations in the globalizing world, and is the author of the book American Grand Strategy: Obama’s Middle East Legacy. He completed his doctorate studies at the Department of Political History and International Relations of the Middle East at the Marmara University, Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries, Istanbul, Turkey. He was granted the title of Associate Professor in International Relations with his academic work on America, the Middle East, and Transatlantic Studies.