Liberal Theory

P. 101–114.

Ferguson I.

This chapter examines the International Relations theory of liberalism in relation to global constitutionalism. It uses the work of G. John Ikenberry, an American professor of International Relations as representative of liberalism. While Ikenberry’s name is synonymous with this theory, as other commentators have suggested, he is far from its only representative in the United States. Ikenberry’s thinking is in line with a ‘worldview’ of American liberal thought. This worldview reaches beyond an Ivy League perspective on the theory of International Relations (IR) and connects directly – as Ikenberry himself has throughout his career – with the world of international practice and what has been described, in a related context, as the guidance that political theory can and should provide to decision-makers.

Keywords: liberalism, political theory, American foreign policy, international political theory, global constitutionalism, The United States of America

In book

Handbook on Global Constitutionalism: Second Edition

Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023.