Broken Cycle: World Politics in the Age of Dissent

Why is the Liberal International Order unraveling - and will this lead to global disorder? Broken Cycle explores this urgent question by viewing international politics through a dynamic lens focused on the rise and fall of great powers - whose periodic global wars determine who rules and which ideas and values prevail in the reordered international system. Randall L. Schweller uncovers recurring patterns of change, offering a framework to anticipate the contours of the emerging world. Rather than tracking short-term diplomatic shifts, this book seeks the deeper rhythms of history - cycles of growth, expansion, and decline - that shape international politics over centuries. These patterns are not inevitable, but they are powerful. By understanding them, we gain insight into the forces driving today’s dissent - and tomorrow’s possibilities. This is a study of the structural forces that govern change, the crises that break the old order, and the ideas that rise in its place.