The United States and the Unmaking of Neoliberal Order

Grounded in a critical theoretical perspective, this book offers a dense and original interpretation of the structural tensions and processes that led to the breakdown of the neoliberal international order established in the post–Cold War era under the auspices of the United States. The book brings together a collection of essays written over a span of 25 years that present an in-depth analysis of two central dimensions of the concept of order that prevailed during this period: the establishment of a global economy governed by general norms designed and managed according to multilateral principles; and the institution of liberal democracy as a prescriptive model for political organization and a criterion for international legitimacy.

In the first chapters, the author identifies inherent contradictions within these two dimensions that made their tendency toward crisis predictable from the outset. The book then turns to an analysis of the processes leading to the present moment, in which the foundations of the liberal order envisioned after the Cold War are openly challenged by rising social forces on a global scale and by the official policies of its principal architect and guarantor, the United States, leading the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most emblematic institution of the economic globalization project, to a deadlock. Finally, the book concludes with chapters dedicated to study the conditions that gave rise to the “Trump phenomenon” and to its significance for the United States and the world.