Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Obama Legacy and Trump Prospect
America, Liberalism, and Empire
Plan of the Work

Chapter One Liberal Hegemony
Officialdom
Rule Maker, Rule Breaker
Friends and Enemies, Protector and Protected
The Neoliberal Economic Order on the Ropes
Who-Whom?

Chapter Two Universal Empire and Westphalian Ruins
Toward Universal Empire
Rome and America
Revolution, Intervention, and the Law of Nations
The American Synthesis
Pluralism and Liberal Internationalism
Realism, Liberalism, and the Legal Order
The Golden Rule

Chapter Three Public Bads in the Illiberal World Order
Freedom of Navigation and East Asia
The Greater Good in the Greater Middle East
Surveillance State, Sanctioning State, and the New Praetorian Elite
The Open Door and Its Enemies
Recovering Liberalism

Chapter Four Taps for Republican Liberty
Internationalism's Broken Promises
Sacralizing Militarism
The Security Theory of Republican Liberalism
The Old Testament and Its Rivals

Chapter Five The Renovation of American Foreign Policy
Isolationism and Globalism
A New Internationalism
Return of the Lippmann Gap
The Nixon Precedent
Toward a New Détente
Reconstituting the European Alliance
East Asian Retrenchment
Concert versus Dominance
Heart of Darkness
Blood and Oil
Israel and the Thrasybulus Syndrome
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Select Bibliography

About the Author

David C. Hendrickson is Professor of Political Science at Colorado College and the author of eight books, including Peace Pact: The Lost World of the American Founding.

Reviews

"Hendricksonâs concern about the direction of US foreign policy is well founded and this well-written, flowing volume will be of interest to scholars, policy-makers and students of international relations." -- Michael John Williams (New York University), International Affairs 94:2
"[T]he book is thoughtful critique on US grand strategy....Highly recommended."--J. Fields, CHOICE
"Republic in Peril is a masterpiece of perspicacity from one of our greatest political scientists. Critiquing the 'liberal world order' promoted by our political establishments as profoundly illiberal, Hendrickson bids Americans to remember the words of their original prophets and return to first principles. Those with ears to hear, let them hear."--Walter A. McDougall, Pultizer Prize Winner, University of Pennsylvania
"In this incisive, sharply observed, and utterly persuasive account, David Hendrickson offers a scathing critique of the blundering march toward militarized folly that has defined U.S. policy since the end of the Cold War. Citing the wisdom of the Founders, he also identifies a path offering a return to sanity--an approach to statecraft rooted in realism, modesty, and prudence. Americans concerned about their country's fate should read this brilliant
book."--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War for the Greater Middle East
"In Republic in Peril, David Hendrickson, true to form, musters his erudition, elegant prose, wit, and mastery of history and political thought to offer a scorching critique of the (bipartisan) principles and practices of post-Cold War American foreign policy, explaining why and how they have reduced Americans' liberty, security, and prosperity. Unlike most critics, however, Hendrickson also presents an alternative strategy that is substantive and
compelling, the more so because it exposes the impracticalities of reflexive isolationism and the perils of hubris-driven exceptionalism. This is truly a book for our times."--Rajan Menon, Anne and Bernard Spitzer
Professor of International Relations, City College of New York/City University of New York
"Hendrickson compellingly demonstrates that the American Republic is in peril--not from foreign enemies, but from the consequences of its own misguided foreign policy. Ranging widely and deftly, from the classics of American political thought and international theory to the bewildering thicket of hot wars and regional feuds across the globe that embroil America, Hendrickson forcefully shows that U.S. foreign policy has become increasingly imperial and
militarist--and deeply at odds with the animating purposes and original philosophies of the liberal republican American experiment."--Daniel Deudney, Associate Professor of Political Science, Johns Hopkins
University
"In Republic in Peril, one of the foremost scholars of U.S. foreign policy makes a passionate and convincing case for a return to the first principles of American republican liberalism."--Michael Lind, author of The American Way of Strategy
"Still, Hendrickson has performed an urgently necessary service in reconstructing the liberal pluralist tradition. He reminds us that there is a humane alternative to contemporary orthodoxy if we can only recognize it." -- The New York Review of Books