ABSTRACT
After winning the Cold War against Soviet-supported Communism the United States emerged as a hegemonic power in the international system. It used this power to pursue a liberal international order based on free trade, the free movement of capital and the construction of liberal states with representative political institutions. This strategy was often compromised by US geopolitical objectives — including the extension of NATO power in Europe and the protection of oil in the Middle East — but it remains nonetheless a remarkably consistent theme in modern US foreign relations (Catley 1999).
