World War Order: Why Liberal is the New Realism and America First is America Last: A brief history of the international system and the wars that shaped them

Despite the relative comfort and convenience we enjoy in the twenty-first century, the Information Age came with a social discord, political polarization, systematic misunderstandings, tribalism, and economic turmoil for many. Rocked by technological and socio-economic disruption, the resurgence of America First comes during a consequential moment in international relations as shifts in global power set the stage for great power competition. This is a recurring theme throughout periods of rapid development have also been humanity’s most violent.

The Liberal World Order, the cornerstone of American grand strategy since World War II, grants the United States unfathomable discretion and power in international politics. By shaping the international system to its interests, the US sustains its hegemony bringing an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity. It has been almost 80 years since the last great power war. If history is any indication, we are due for one.

This manuscript examines how significant moments in development, including the Renaissance, the Enlightenment Age, and the Industrial Revolution, led to history’s most violent wars…wars that have come to shape the international system. Amid the Information Age, those lessons are more critical than complacency, failure of imagination, and postulation. America’s role as the "indispensable nation" is vital as emerging autocracies hope to capitalize on populist retrenchment to reshape world order at America's expense. The Liberal World Order is not an institution of charity and altruism but power and interest. This is the real story behind world order.