Institutions, Strategic Restraint, and the Persistence of American Postwar Order

Abstract

The role of the United States in the post–Cold War world order is the focus of our next two articles. John Ikenberry of the University of Pennsylvania explains why neorealist expectations that the influence of multilateral alliances would decline as a result of the disappearance of the Soviet threat and the end of bipolarity have not materialized, and why they are unlikely to do so in the future. Ikenberry argues that neorealists fail to give adequate consideration to the “binding” nature of international institutions and the United States’ exercise of strategic restraint, which have helped maintain the stability of the postwar era.