The Ecology of Nations

“John Owen, one of the world’s leading liberal international relations theorists, has written a fascinating book, which argues that American democracy’s wellbeing requires a world heavily populated by other democracies.”—John J. Mearsheimer, coauthor of How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy 

“Liberal democracy is under threat almost everywhere. John M. Owen does not flinch from telling us how we arrived at where we are nor from providing bold ideas about how we can plot a way out of the crisis we find ourselves in. A tour de force.”—Michael Cox, author of Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden

“Few scholars have written more incisively about ideas in international relations than John M. Owen. In this important book, he explains their role in great power competition and outlines principles for reinforcing American democracy at home and sustaining the liberal order abroad.”—Eric S. Edelman, former Undersecretary for Defense for Policy

“The Ecology of Nations is both learned and lucid. Owen provides a framework that synthesizes complex debates about democracy, liberalism, and the international order and clears a path for new thinking both at home and abroad.”—Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter ’66 University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University