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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.
- Sales Rank: #1182476 in Books
- Brand: Brand: The MIT Press
- Published on: 2013-11-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .69" w x 6.00" l, 1.35 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
Hilton Root examines international relations from the perspective of complexity theory, the science of the twenty-first century. His analysis will compel a complete re-thinking of the current dominant narrative on globalization, with its assumption of convergence to Western liberal values. A very original, well-written, and highly thought-provoking book.
(Paul Ormerod, Partner, Volterra Partners)A creative and sophisticated treatment of the dynamics of global change. By fleshing out the notion of a 'networked global society,' Root at once makes an important theoretical contribution and advances our understanding of the interdependent--yet decentralized--world that lies ahead.
(Charles A. Kupchan, Georgetown University and Council on Foreign Relations, Author of No One's World)As China gets richer, why is it not becoming more like the West? Because, says Hilton Root in this outstanding new book, development does not work the way that most social scientists think. Borrowing the tools that natural scientists use to explain evolution and complex systems, Dynamics among Nations reveals the hidden logic behind global economics, governance, and security. Everyone who wants to understand how our world is changing should read this compelling book.
(Ian Morris, author of Why the West Rules--For Now) About the Author
Hilton L. Root, an expert on international political economy and development, is Professor at the George Mason University School of Public Policy. He is the author of Alliance Curse: How the U.S. Lost the Third World, Capital and Collusion: Political Logic of Global Economic Development, and other books.
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Complexity thinking that shifts the paradigms of international relations
By J. P. Massing
In ‘Dynamics Among Nations’, Professor Hilton Root convincingly challenges the propositions of the liberal international consensus and re-frames the prevailing conceptualisation of development by introducing complexity thinking to the fields of political economy and international relations.
I highly recommend this intellectually stimulating and excellently written book to decision makers, researchers and students – as well as to anyone who is interested in gaining an advanced and well-informed understanding of the complex realities of development and global policy.
Root reflects upon the role of liberal internationalism, which – since the end of the Cold War – has become the authoritative doctrine of the triumphant West’s activist foreign policy agenda prescribing ‘the rules of legitimate economic and political order’ (p. 4). Development is commonly understood in terms of modernisation theory, presuming capitalism and democracy to be a mutually reinforcing sequence of social change (p. 9).
Together, a liberal polity and an open economy are conventionally conceived of as ‘two great attractors’ that delineate a unidirectional and linear sequence of social change converging toward an equilibrated ‘global optimum’ (pp. 57, 58, 66). Accordingly, the institution of the free market is essentially seen to function as ‘the replicator of liberal values’ determining social order and making market democracy the inevitable and ultimate stage of development, as well as the prescriptive and ‘universally applicable institutional framework of good governance’ (pp. 36, 38,37, 54,75).
However, within the ‘increasingly interdependent and networked global society’ of the twenty-first century, Root sees the socioeconomic development sequence of liberal internationalism as essentially failing to account for the ‘interactive dynamics’ that shape the processes of ‘social change and economic development’ (pp. 9, 30). He refers to the unique development trajectory of Asia as just one example that refutes the idea of ‘democratic and economic convergence’ toward ‘global optimization’ (pp. 27, 57).
Complexity thinking conceives of development as an ‘emergent property’, an ‘evolutionary outcome’ of the interactions of interconnected and interdependent agents (pp. 19, 84). These interactions create internal dynamics that do not converge toward equilibrium (p. 18). Change becomes nonlinear, rather than being additive and proportional to the inputs as the institution-centric approach maintains (pp. 20, 92).
Development is ‘variety without directionality’, with outcomes emerging from the mutual interactions of continuously self-organising entities (pp. 58, 71). Not convergence – but coevolution is the key principle of change, resulting in ‘interacting dancing landscapes’ (p. 71). Coevolving actors adapt locally, rather than globally, searching to attain ‘local optima’ within distinct subsystems (pp. 41, 72). Root argues that, within ‘local fitness landscapes’, influential actors have the potential to critically transform their respective subsystem, affecting the development paths of their interconnected partners (pp. 72-73). This is illustrated by the rise of China which decisively impacts the global fitness landscapes by presenting an appealing ‘nonliberal variant of modernity’ and potentially undermining the reputedly universal standards of the ‘liberal consensus’ (pp. 5, 66, 73).
Root thus demonstrates that, due to global interdependence and interconnectivity, various strategies for survival ‘coexist and coevolve’ and that developing nations discover adaptive niches within the system that allow these countries to ‘specialize, innovate, and increase technological capacity without adopting Western norms’ (pp. 76, 84). Moreover, Root argues, the attempt to ‘transplant’ key institutions – predominantly elections and price-determined markets – in order to transform developing countries is doomed to failure: Due to the interdependence among the system’s coevolving components, the function of a single part depends upon the behaviours of the remaining components and can not be expected to remain the same if isolated and transplanted (p. 39).
The key insight of ‘Dynamics Among Nations’ is that development is not an additive or aggregate outcome but rather an ‘emergent quality’ arising from the interconnected behaviours of coevolving actors and resulting in unpredictable and nonlinear social change (pp. 20, 92). The survival strategies and development trajectories of coevolving countries – lacking a ‘global compass’ – are highly diverse as nations compete, adapt and struggle for survival ‘within a local context’ (pp. 45, 72, 83). There is no universal recipe for the complex realities of development.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
This is a great example of effective communication by a leading academic reaching ...
By Dr Mark Pennington
In my view Hilton Root’s Dynamics among Nation, represents a path-breaking theoretical contribution to institutional economics. Drawing on the insights of complexity science Root shifts the focus of institutional analysis away from static, linear models towards an understanding of the dynamic, interdependencies that have shaped the political economy of development in both ancient and modern regimes.
Political economy analysis in its simpler conceptions assumes that actors are atomised individuals whose behaviour changes in response to shifting incentives; thus a change in one set of incentives is expected to lead to a linear change in collective behaviour. By contrast, Root reminds us that actors are social agents constantly interacting in networks where continuous feedback loops can lead to behavioural adaptations based on what other agents do or are expected to do. These local interactions lead to emergent properties that in turn give shape to larger systems that are also in a state of adaptive flux. Radical change is possible, but not simply by the exogenous introduction of new institutions. Information circulating locally within a small network can spread rapidly with cascading effects, as in the case of the Arab Spring. Even when change is abrupt it is, however, influenced by pre-existing structures; it exhibits observable patterns of orderliness but not predictability.
Dynamics Among Nations dispels the optimism that transplanting institutions is sufficient to direct a society’s trajectory in a desired direction. In the process it offers penetrating explanations for the emergence of the highly distinctive growth strategies in China, Brazil, India and Russia which diverge from the menu of recommendations typically proposed by international organisations and Western governments. Concepts such as networks, emergence and interdependency are explained with clarity and then extended to present a vivid account of the contemporary international political economy.
The book offers new perspectives to understand the evolutionary dynamics of change in complex systems and opens a new methodological space for economists to conduct research about the sources of variation across national political economies. It is eloquently written emphasising its message with clear language and compelling examples from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases. This is a great example of effective communication by a leading academic reaching out to a wider audience without compromising commitment to the scientific method.
Among the many new books on emerging economies, very few make as important a contribution to our understanding of institutional change as Dynamics among Nations. Hilton Root has taken the Northian agenda forward, building a bridge between institutional economics and contemporary complexity science in a manner that deserves to be pondered by all with an interest in this field.
Professor Mark Pennington
Department of Political Economy
King’s College, University of London
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Introduction of Complexity Theory into Field of International Relations Enlightening
By James C Henderson Jr
Root offers the reader a unique take on an oft-discussed subject in international affairs circles: the global policy implications of the imminent decline of the West. By introducing the concept of thinking of international relations as a complex adaptive system, Root grounds his vision for how nations develop and interact in the terminology of the complexity sciences and complex systems theory.
This allows the reader to draw from a different perspective than the typical liberal internationalism-based approach favored by most academics, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War. Root’s analysis allows one to think of nations and their international relationships as ever-evolving, codependent and intertwined, rather than linear and bipolar.
By thinking about international relations as a diverse ecosystem, like a rainforest, it becomes easier to grasp the sheer magnitude of inputs that create and influence the modern global system. It also helps explain how one seemingly isolated incident – say, perhaps, the assassination of a random Central European archduke – can have a lasting impact on global affairs.
At its core, Dynamics among Nations tackles the assertion of modernity theorists that liberal internationalism provides the ultimate blueprint for building a modern state, and that liberal democracy, while it can be suppressed for a time, will ultimately prevail as the final governing system for all nations. By introducing complexity, Root creates an alternative, but still rational, picture of how the ever-changing world will evolve in the absence of a dominant administrator for the global system.
Root begins by introducing the theory of complexity and its application to international relations. He takes on contemporary scholars like Daron Acemoglu and Douglass North and challenges their believe that democracy and open markets are intrinsically compatible and, furthermore, are self-fulfilling in that one eventually leads to the other.
Root then addresses the many holes in modernization theory as it applied to today’s world, including the notion that economic growth and democracy are mutually reinforcing. In describing the study of economics, he offers some insight into his argument that, rather than being based on simplified models and fixed agents, “an economy both a part of a complex system and a complex system in its own right, producing outcomes at other levels” (p.53). From here, Root explains why institutional developers are incorrect in asserting that building the correct institutions are crucial to economic development.
Indeed, later in the book Root makes a strong case to completely refute institutionalism theory as a whole with his case study of Sri Lanka: a country of many Western-educated elites and in which existed most of the “right” institutions at the time of its independence. Rather than move along the linear developmental path towards liberal democracy, Sri Lanka instead has moved in the direction of its autocratic neighbor, China.
The Sri Lanka example also illustrates Root’s analysis of the fitness landscapes of nations, and how a local landscape, usually a short-term concern, can oftentimes supersede a more strategic global one. The more “rugged” one’s fitness landscape, the more challenging it becomes to influence from afar the trajectory of a developing economy, due to the fact that economies in “rugged” landscapes cannot see past their more immediate concerns, often due to initial starting conditions.
Root convincingly offers logical reasoning for why some countries do not conform to the liberal internationalist model of democracy despite enjoying many of the advantages of a market-based economy and interconnectedness with the global economy. By clearly laying out the diverse examples of China, India and those of the great European powers, Root establishes his premise that no two countries have the exact same starting conditions, leading to what biologists call bifurcation – the idea that small variations in initial starting conditions eventually lead to large variations over time.
Having established a foundation for why the world mutated over the centuries as a result in variations caused by differing fitness landscapes, Root turns his attention to prognostication: based on the individual histories and interconnected complexity of the modern global economy, what will the new global order look like?
Here, Root again draws on the Sri Lanka example of how liberal internationalism is being undermined by successful autocratic regimes, in particular China. According to liberal internationalism and its cousin new institutional economics, countries can be coerced into “good” international behavior by rewarding said behavior with financial assistance. When an agent like China enters the picture and offers aid with no strings attached, it completely undermines the incentive for good governance and offers an alternative to the Western developmental model.
According to Root, the emerging global order will be “multidirectional, as partners large and small grow more dependent on one another for their own progress and stability” (p.220). In this scenario, nations are constantly receiving feedback loops from other nations, creating a world where there is a constant ebb-and-flow of actions and adjustments by both ally and adversary alike.
Root’s take on the limitations of liberal internationalism theory was illuminating in that he offers a scientific method by which human understanding can begin to grasp international relations under complexity theory. While he acknowledges that this method may very well prove to be beyond human understanding, at least he offers a rational and feasible means by which to explain the ends. The power of algorithms in decoding many of the world’s mysteries has led to great leaps of scientific discovery, and, likewise, offers the hope of making sense of the complex system of international relations.
I believe that we are indeed moving towards a world where there is “no captain at the helm.” But as nations continue to coevolve and learn from each other’s mistakes, the modern age of prosperity need not wilt under the pressures of great clashes of civilization (Huntington 1996) or one where democracy is completely marginalized. In order to prevent this scenario, the West must ensure that its economies, militaries and societies continue to develop in a manner that does not shut out the new entrants to prosperity but rather coopts them into the mutually beneficial interdependent system.
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