Great Power Peace and American Primacy [electronic resource] : The Origins and Future of a New International Order /
Baron, J.author.
This book explains the period of great power peace in the last fifty years and outlines the path to perpetuating it. Drawing on the Realist tradition and challenging conventional wisdom about the causes of American primacy, Baron explores contributions to peace made by the balance of power, nuclear weapons, democracy and globalization.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Tables and Figures; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Seasons of Darknessand Light; I. The need for new strategies: Great power politics in the 21st century; II. Plan of the book; 1 The Transformation of Great Power Politics; I. The modern great powers; II. A historic achievement: Great power peace; III. Unprecedented dominance: American primacy; IV. Conclusion: A break with the past; 2 A Theory of Order: Explaining Major Change in International Politics; I. Defining terms: Anarchy, order, and stability
II. The sources of an order: Explaining stability under anarchyIII. A realist theory of transformation; IV. Conclusion; 3 A Season of Light: The Balance of Power and the Westphalian Order; I. A comparative calm: Post-Westphalian stability; II. Mechanical problems: The structure of power; III. An ascent from chaos: Reasons of State and the Westphalian Order; IV. A virtuous competition: Arms races and alliance politics; V. Interludes of instability and management: The wars of the French Revolution and the Concert of Europe; VI. Conclusion
4 A Fifty Years' Crisis: The Collapse of the Westphalian Order and the Path to Total WarI. A military machine materializes: The lifting of restraints on warfare; II. The nation is born: The eclipse of reasons of state; III. A game without rules: The collapse of the Westphalian Order; IV. Spirals of instability: The breakdown of the Balance of Power; V. A Fifty Years' crisis: The false promise of pacifism and the emergence of total war; VI. Conclusion; 5 Dawn of a New Day: The Rise of the American Order; I. Reigning in the problem children: The rise of the American Order
II. A division of labor: Roles and responsibilities within the American OrderIII. The logic of continuity: The American Order after the Cold War; IV. Conclusion; 6 Getting MAD and Even: Nuclear Weapons, Bipolarity, and a New Kind of Rivalry; I. The nuclear revolution: A seismic shift in the structure of power; II. A state of terror: The condition of Mutually Assured Destruction; III. Too terrifying to balance: The Cuban Missile Crisis and a shared desire for peace; IV. Managing rivalry: The MAD order; V. Conclusion: The achievement of Cold War stability
7 Balance of Power and Its Critics: The Limitations of Current ParadigmsI. The Balance of Power; II. The Wilsonian Triad; III. The Obsolescence of War; IV. Conclusion: The Balance of Power and its critics; 8 Preserving Peace in the 21st Century: Thought and Action in a Newly Ordered World; I. The transformation of great power politics; II. Recovering structural realism: Toward a general theory of great power politics; III. Preserving great power peace in the 21st century; IV. Conclusion: New modes of thought and action; Conclusion: The Need for Vigilance and Sacrifice; Notes; Bibliography
Index
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This book explains the period of great power peace in the last fifty years and outlines the path to perpetuating it. Drawing on the Realist tradition and challenging conventional wisdom about the causes of American primacy, Baron explores contributions to peace made by the balance of power, nuclear weapons, democracy and globalization.
International organization.
International relations.
Peace.
Europe—Politics and government.
Political sociology.
Political science.
International Organization.
International Relations.
Conflict Studies.
European Politics.
Political Sociology.
Political Science.