The False Promise of Liberal Order: Nostalgia, Delusion, and the Rise of Trump
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| Author | Graeme A. Thompson |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00207020211019304 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Asian crises in 1997–1998, and the Russian crisis in 1998); and the European crisis of
2009–2013.
Chapter 5 is devoted to the analysis of risk in business activities, which include risks
on international trade and international investments. These risks are quite varied and
mostly include transactions between corporations across countries. Importantly, the
author provides descriptive information on assessments of country risk by six major
raters: the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG), Credendo, the Fraser Institute, the
Heritage Foundation, and the World Economic Forum. The indicators that these
companies use comprise political, financial, and economic risks. The indicators include
the most traditional ones (such as foreign debt as a percentage of GDP, inflation, and
government deficits) as well as cases of force majeure (such as civil disturbances,
revolutions, and floods) and a variety of measures of economic freedom (such as
property rights and black markets). The author examines all the indicators and the
methodologies of each agency in excruciating detail, which is very useful for new
researchers in this area. Chapter 6 concludes.
To conclude, while there have been many studies on country risk, few efforts offer
the breadth in terms of the data examined and the collection of new information
provided in this book. The book is an excellent reference for university students both at
the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as for practitioners on risk analysis.
Notably, the author also provides a voluminous reference list, which is very useful for
even the well-versed readers in country risk.
Patrick Porter
The False Promise of Liberal Order: Nostalgia, Delusion, and the Rise of Trump, Cambridge, UK: Polity
Press, 2020. viii, 224 pp. $23.95 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-509-53868-3
Reviewed by: Graeme A. Thompson (gthompson@hks.harvard.edu), Harvard Kennedy School
Few concepts are as current in foreign policy circles as the idea of a liberal international
order. This notion—sometimes expressed in terms of a “rules-based international
order”—is a convenient shorthand for the complex web of institutions, alliances, and
practices that have governed interstate relations under the leadership of the United
States since 1945. The concept gained new urgency with the election of Donald
Trump as US president in 2016, which threatened to overturn decades of relative US
foreign policy consensus. For many, it is axiomatic that the liberal international
order is under grave threat and must be defended, revitalized, and extended into the
future.
In The False Promise of Liberal Order, Patrick Porter subjects this narrative to a cold
polemical shower. As an Oxford-trained historian, Chair in International Security and
Strategy at the United Kingdom’s University of Birmingham, and a Fellow at the
London-based Royal United Services Institute, Porter is well positioned to advance a
critique of “the proposition of liberal order”(21). Writing from a realist perspective,
Book Reviews 351
To continue reading
Request your trial