Gregory T. Chin and Carla P. Freeman argue that the most influential scholarship in International Relations, International Organization and International Political Economy holds that “exogenous conditions” can be assumed to be stable and largely unchanging. Yet as this is increasingly tested, it is apparent that another perspective is required – one that can grapple seriously with both change and continuity.

The essays in this book were all written by David Held under the shadow of 9/11 and the calamitous wars fought afterwards. We are at a crossroads. One road points to authoritarianism, while another opens up a more hopeful cosmopolitan future. The path to authoritarianism could be created by the dangerous drift in the world order, and a search for decisive solutions from ‘strong man’ leaders. But, as the volume argues, there are alternatives.