On Prudential Liberalism, and the New International Order pt. III

The previous two posts in this series were published some time ago (here; and here). When liberalism was invented as a political and ideological doctrine at the tail end of the eighteenth century in Europe, the ruling doctrine was a commitment to balance of power among the mercantilist statesmen and ideologues it opposed. This doctrine also accurately captured the reality of the European state system that none of the leading states could be hegemonic in Europe or globally if the others combined to check it.