Dynamics among nations : the evolution of legitimacy and development in modern states / Hilton L. Root.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Root, Hilton L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International economic relations.

Globalization.

State, The.

Economic development.

Evolutionary economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (347 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Liberal internationalism has been the West's foreign policy agenda since the Cold War, and the West has long occupied the top rung of a hierarchical system. In this book, Hilton Root argues that international relations, like other complex ecosystems, exists in a constantly shifting landscape, in which hierarchical structures are giving way to systems of networked interdependence, changing every facet of global interaction. Accordingly, policymakers will need a new way to understand the process of change. Root suggests that the science of complex systems offers an analytical framework to explain the unforeseen development failures, governance trends, and alliance shifts in today's global political economy. Root examines both the networked systems that make up modern states and the larger, interdependent landscapes they share. Using systems analysis--in which institutional change and economic development are understood as self-organizing complexities--he offers an alternative view of institutional resilience and persistence. From this perspective, Root considers the divergence of East and West; the emergence of the European state, its contrast with the rise of China, and the network properties of their respective innovation systems; the trajectory of democracy in developing regions; and the systemic impact of China on the liberal world order. Complexity science, Root argues, will not explain historical change processes with algorithmic precision, but it may offer explanations that match the messy richness of those processes."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Contents; Preface and Acknowledgments; 1 Post-Globalization: Complexity in the Governance of a Networked Global Society; 2 Opening the Doors of Complexity; 3 Economic Incentives and the Replication of Social Complexity; 4 Coevolution versus Liberal Internationalism; 5 Promises and Pitfalls of New Institutional Economics; 6 Dancing Landscapes: How Interdependency Shapes the Optimization Challenge of Globalization; 7 Accelerators of "Stateness": System Structure and Network Behavior in the Making of the Modern State; 8 Democracy's Hybrid Architecture

9 Achieving State Capacity: Parallel Political Modernization in China and Europe10 Does China Challenge the Global Legitimacy of Liberalism?; 11 No Captain at the Helm; Glossary; Notes; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-31827-X

0-262-31826-1

OCLC:

862076943