Unipolarity and Its Consequences - Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order - page 94

order—to advance their economic and political goals within it. Across history, international
orders have varied widely in terms of whether the material benefits that are generated accrue
disproportionately to the leading state or are widely shared. In the American-led system, the
barriers to economic participation are low, and the potential benefits are high. States can join
by adopting political and economic practices that are congruent with the open world system.
Command decisions are not made at the center of the system about whether to include or ex-
clude states. States have it within their own hands to make these decisions.
This openness of the American hub extends beyond the state system. The low barriers
to entry provide opportunities for nongovernmental actors—transnational activists, entre-
preneurs, professional groups—to operate in and with others across the order. Anne-Marie
Slaughter describes this quality of a country—and its outward organizational characterist-
ics—as its capacity for connectivity. 28 In this sense, the American pole is “network friendly.”
It is an open and expandable organizational social and political system. It is a hub that attracts
partners and participants.
Third is the coalition-based character of its leadership. Past orders have tended to be dom-
inated by one state. The stakeholders of the current liberal international order include a co-
alition of powers arrayed around the United States—an important distinction. These leading
states, most of them advanced liberal democracies, do not always agree, but they are engaged
in a continuous process of give-and-take over economics, politics, and security. Unlike an
imperial system, governance in this order takes place in a variety of formal and informal ven-
ues in which multiple states take the lead or operate in concert. The so-called G-7/G-8 pro-
cess—and the more recent G-20 process—are emblematic of this open style of multilateral
and expandable governance.
In these various ways, the liberal character of the political order that has surrounded the
United States has turned it into a hub that is unusually expansive and integrative in char-
acter. Other countries have made systematic decisions to connect to and operate within this
order rather than resist and oppose it. The economic growth and wealth creation generated
within it makes it easier for leading states to provide aid and other benefits for weaker and
smaller states. The multilateral rules and institutions within this order also provide mechan-
isms for states seeking to manage economic crises or reforms. Coordination is facilitated and
resources—policy knowledge, standby funds, etc.—are available for participating states. In
effect, the liberal order takes on the form of a mutual aid society. States join the order and
benefit accordingly. Alternative poles/hubs—existing or imagined—offer fewer attractions.
Unipolarity emerged in the post-Cold War decades as alternative poles/hubs fell away or
failed to form.