G. John Ikenberry

Doyle is best known for his seminal essays on democratic peace theory, which have shaped debates about liberalism and war for an entire generation of scholars. Readers will not find a better guide to liberal internationalism and its theoretical rivals than this collection of his writings from the past three decades.

If fragile and failed states are the problem, nation-state building is the solution. But this important study led by Risse, a German political scientist, demonstrates that many parts of the world will not soon or easily be transformed into capable modern states.

This masterful treatise by Teitel, a law professor at New York University, offers one of the best explanations yet of the complex, shifting normative foundations of international law.

The book seeks to explain the bias in American foreign policy toward threats and punishments and argues that it is a legacy of the Cold War, which taught politicians to worry about charges of appeasement.

Reiss’ important book offers some of the most lucid and sensible reflections yet on the topic.

Sikkink traces the evolution in the reigning orthodoxy about states and human right violations, the result of a series of shifts in international legal standards and practices.

Before complaining about China’s refusal to buy into the liberal world order, argues Amitai Etzioni, the West should stop moving the goalposts by developing new norms of intervention, such as “the responsibility to protect.” G. John Ikenberry responds that Beijing already has more than enough inducement to sign up.

Fisher’s main interest is in identifying the changing moral choices and circumstances that confront contemporary would-be war-makers.

This little book by the late historian Diggins seeks to explain Niebuhr’s continuing appeal.

International orders guide how major powers interact with one another and with less powerful states: how they cooperate and compete in trade and security and when and why they respect one another’s sovereignty. Ikenberry’s important book tackles this complex subject, giving readers a deep understanding of the factors that determine the type of international order.

In this collection of essays, leading diplomatic historians and international relations theorists explore the limits of realist theory in explaining why great powers do what they do.