Liberal internationalism

A foreign-policy approach that seeks peace and prosperity through international institutions, cooperation among states, and liberal principles such as representative government and individual rights.

Democratic peace theory: The theory that democracies are less likely to fight wars against one another than other pairs of states. It supplies a major argument for expanding representative government as a route to interstate peace.
Immanuel Kant: An eighteenth-century philosopher whose political writings proposed republican government and a federation of states as conditions for perpetual peace. His account of republican peace and federation became a lasting intellectual precursor.
International institutions: Organizations and rule systems through which states coordinate, exchange information, and manage shared problems. They make recurring cooperation possible beyond one-time diplomatic agreements.
Realism (international relations): A tradition in international relations that emphasizes state power, security competition, and the limits of cooperation under anarchy. It challenges the expectation that institutions and shared principles can reliably restrain power politics.
Bretton Woods system: The postwar monetary order built around fixed exchange rates, the U.S. dollar, and institutions for financial cooperation. It embedded economic cooperation in institutions created during the liberal postwar settlement.
Commercial peace: The proposition that economic interdependence raises the costs of war and encourages peaceful relations among states. It connects liberal internationalism’s support for trade with its expectation of cooperation.
Woodrow Wilson: U.S. president from 1913 to 1921 who promoted national self-determination and a League of Nations after World War I. His postwar program made institution-building a prominent U.S. foreign-policy project.
Multilateralism: The practice of coordinating policy among three or more states through shared rules or institutions. It is the characteristic diplomatic method for pursuing common rules and joint action.
Isolationism: A foreign-policy orientation that seeks to limit a state's involvement in international affairs and commitments abroad. It rejects the sustained overseas engagement liberal internationalism requires.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: A military alliance founded in 1949 for the collective defense of its members. It shows how liberal internationalism has relied on alliances as well as civilian institutions.

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