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Title details for The Ecology of Nations by John M. Owen - Available

The Ecology of Nations

American Democracy in a Fragile World Order

by John M. Owen
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How democracies compete with autocracies to bias international order in their favorâand why democracies are losing
 
It is well known, and much discussed, that liberal democracy is in trouble worldwide. Much of this discussion focuses on conditions within individual countries: their inequalities of wealth, political polarization, media environments, and dominant ideologies. In this book, John M. Owen IV sees the failures of democracy as failures of âecosystem engineering.â
 
Like beavers, nesting ants, or (most intensely of all) humans, nations actively reshape their environments to make them more favorable for their own speciesâthis, for Owen, is the true meaning of Woodrow Wilsonâs phrase âto make the world safe for democracy.â However, liberalism has evolved in ways that are no longer conducive to its own survival; meanwhile, autocratic governments in Russia and China are actively reshaping the international environment to favor autocracy.
 
Owen argues that the way to ensure democracyâs survival in the United States is to reimagine liberalismâto view it as less about disruption and perpetual openness and more about commitment, community, and country. Liberalism must reject the âgreat delusionâ that it can defeat autocracies everywhere and convert them into liberal democracies, yet also counter moves by China and Russia to make the world safe for autocracy.

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  • English

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