The Great Transformation and the Failure of Illiberal Hegemony - Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order - page 167

These features of the Westphalian system are ideal-typical and not an exact reflection of
the logic of order over the last five centuries. But they do capture a deep logic. The diffu-
sion of power among several leading states meant that there would not be a single “center”
to international order. There would be several powerful and competing centers—or poles of
power. Great powers may have spheres of influence, client states, and even far-flung empires.
But within the wider world, they operate in a system where power is diffused among several
great powers. Likewise, states—large and small—claimed rights of sovereignty. State sover-
eignty is a norm or shared understanding in which states claim for themselves and cede to
other states the right of autonomy and independence as a political entity. States are respons-
ible for what goes on inside their sovereign territorial borders. No political entity above the
state has the legal right or authority to intervene or make claims on what goes on within the
state. 31
This Westphalian system has been significantly transformed in recent decades, particu-
larly since the end of the Cold War. And in the last decade, the two essential features of that
system—diffusion and equilibrium of power among major states and sovereign states with
a monopoly on authority over their territory—has been to some extent inverted. The United
States, under conditions of unipolarity, has enjoyed a near monopoly on the worldwide use
of military power, while norms of Westphalian sovereignty have eroded with rising accept-
ance of intervention into the internal affairs of states. 32 These dual shifts in the underlying
character of the international system places American power at the center of international or-
der—triggering new sorts of insecurities and controversies over power and authority. We can
look at these dual shifts away from the Westphalian logic of order.
Power Balancing to American Unipolarity
As noted earlier, the end of the Cold War did not return the world to a multipolar system.
Instead, the preeminent power position of the United States was strengthened. This was
partly due to the relative weakness of the other traditional powers, as Russia collapsed, the
European states grew slowly, and Japan entered a decade of economic stagnation. The Un-
ited States had the largest and most vibrant economic in the system. The American dollar was
the world's reserve currency. The United States was also the only global military power—the
only country capable of projecting military power to all corners of the world. It retained most
of its Cold War-era alliance partnerships and far-flung bases in Europe and Asia. Rival ideo-
logies and great-power challengers were nowhere to be found. 33
The international distribution of power favored the United States, the last remaining super-
power. At the same time, there were liberal features (discussed in chapter 4 ) that made Amer-
ican unipolarity more than simply a highly concentrated aggregation of power. The binding
security partnerships and “penetrated” character of American hegemony made unipolarity