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International order is easy to take for granted, but it shapes our world. Governing arrangements allow us to eat food imported from other countries, live safely from nuclear war, travel to foreign cities, profit from our savings, and much else. Yet, the textbook explanation for how order changes-that the most powerful country sets up and sustains new rules of international order after winning a major war-fails to explain a lot of events. Instead of thinking of "the"
international order as a single thing, this book explains how it operates in parts, and often changes in peacetime. It sheds light on a huge range of topics, from US-China rivalry to climate change.
About the author
Jeff D. Colgan is Richard Holbrooke Associate Professor of Political Science at Brown University and the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs. He is also author of Petro-Aggression: When Oil Causes War.
Summary
The global history of oil politics, from World War I to the present, can teach us much about world politics, climate change, and international order in the twenty-first century.
When and why does international order change? The largest peaceful transfer of wealth across borders in all of human history began with the oil crisis of 1973. OPEC countries turned the tables on the most powerful businesses on the planet, quadrupling the price of oil and shifting the global distribution of profits. It represented a huge shift in international order. Yet, the textbook explanation for how world politics works-that the most powerful country sets up and sustains the rules of international order after winning a major war-doesn't fit these events, or plenty of others. Instead of thinking of "the" international order as a single thing, Jeff Colgan explains how it operates in parts, and often changes in peacetime. Partial Hegemony offers lessons for leaders and analysts seeking to design new international governing arrangements to manage an array of pressing concerns ranging from US-China rivalry to climate change, and from nuclear proliferation to peacekeeping. A major contribution to international relations theory, this book promises to reshape our understanding of the forces driving change in world politics.
Additional text
Employing a wide-angle lens, Colgan reconceptualizes international order, unabashedly paving a novel framework for power dynamics and systems change. Colgan's analysis provides important insights not only for understanding oil politics, but also for interpreting how efforts to address emerging developments like climate change and the escalating US-China rivalry could influence international affairs.
