The Fallacy of Liberal Hegemony?: Assessing Post-Cold War U.S. Grand Strategy

• In Event: Hegemony and its Discontents

Abstract

The field of grand strategy has blossomed in recent years, with new works and studies appearing in print almost monthly. Among the many assertions from this new literature is the claim that since the end of the Cold War, the United States pursued a grand strategy of "liberal hegemony" which was a fusion of military primacy and liberal internationalism. And yet, these claims have to be logically or empirical tested. Several examples of American restraint, or failure to use it's military power can be found in the years since the "unipolar moment". This paper examines both American engagement and restraint within the context of grand strategy. It estimates the likelihood of U.S. military intervention using survival analysis drawn from the Correlates of War Dataset. It contends that the United States may, in fact, be more restrained in its foreign policy than previous analyses suggest.

Author

• Luke Matthew Perez, Arizona State University