Power and the Varieties of Order - Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order - page 27

To make sense of the American-led order and the transformations under way, we need to
expand our theoretical vision. I do so in several steps. First, I look at the background condi-
tions that shape and limit the ways in which political formations are manifest. Here the focus
is on variations and shifts in the distribution of power. I identify various types of power dis-
tributions, and I distinguish them from the political rules and relationships that might arise in
the context of different arrays of material capabilities among leading states. It is in this con-
text that we can see the ways in which the American postwar order has traveled through the
era of Cold War bipolarity into the recent decades of unipolarity.
Second, I look at the three general ways in which international order can be organized.
These are orders built on balance, command, and consent. Each of these logics of order is
rooted in a rich theoretical tradition. Each tradition offers a sweeping account of the logic and
character of international order. Each offers a grand narrative of the rise and transformation
of the modern international system. And importantly, each offers a major argument about the
way in which stable international order is formed and maintained.
These logics direct attention to the shaping of international order as it occurs at periodic
historical turning points, particularly in the aftermath of major wars. Settlements of great-
power wars have often turned into ordering moments when the rules and institutions of the
international order are on the table for negotiation and change. The principal components of
settlements are peace conferences, comprehensive treaties, and postwar agreements on prin-
ciples of order. These ordering moments not only ratify the outcome of the war. They also lay
out common understandings, rules and expectations, and procedures for conflict resolution.
As such, these settlements have played a quasi-constitutional function, laying the foundation
and enshrining the organizational logic of international order.
Finally, I look more closely at the ways in which these logics of order have been manifest
in the American-led postwar order. In particular, I explore the continuum that exists between
imperial and liberal forms of hierarchy and rule. This continuum seeks to capture variation
in the degree of formal and coercive control by the leading state over the policies of weaker
and secondary states. Several aspects of hierarchical order shape the degree to which it takes
on liberal characteristics. These include the degree to which the leading state provides and
operates within a set of agreed-upon rules and institutions; the degree to which the leading
state provides public goods to other states; and the degree to which the leading state provides
“voice opportunities” for weaker and secondary states in the order. The American-led order
did manifest these liberal features—and its overall logic and character can be described as
liberal hegemony.