9 – The Rules-Based International Order

How did the rules-based international order come to be, and is it worth preserving? Liberal internationalists, who want to preserve that order, make claims about how the rules-based order emerged and about the role played by key institutions. Marc Trachtenberg argues that historical evidence does not support these claims. He also suggests that there are viable alternatives to the liberal international order—alternatives based on certain traditional ideas about how foreign policy should be conducted.