Summary of John J. Mearsheimer's The Great Delusion

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

#1 The idea of liberal hegemony is that a state aims to turn as many countries as possible into liberal democracies, while also promoting an open international economy and building international institutions. However, this is rarely realistic.

#2 The liberal state is constantly trying to spread democracy around the world, but this also leads to illiberalism at home. The liberal state will not achieve its goals, and its failure will inevitably come with huge costs.

#3 The structure of the international system is anarchic, not hierarchic, which means that liberalism cannot work in international politics. Countries thus have little choice but to act according to balance-of-power logic if they hope to survive.

#4 The American foreign policy establishment embraced the mission of spreading liberalism around the world. They believed that this would eventually bring an end to balance-of-power politics, and they thought that people would become bored with it all.

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Release date

Ebook: 7 April 2022