Joshua Rovner, Chaos Reconsidered
The shock of Donald Trump鈥檚 election caused many observers to ask whether the liberal international order鈥攖he system of institutions and norms established after World War II鈥攚as 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 SIS Professor Joshua Rovner鈥檚 new co-edited book聽Chaos Reconsidered: The Liberal Order and the Future of International Politics聽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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 assertiveness and Russia鈥檚 aggression, and the prospects for the Biden administration and its successors.
Chaos Reconsidered was published in 2023 by Columbia University Press.