In this revised edition, The United States as Global Liberal Hegemon examines the role America has played as the global liberal hegemon for the past 85 years and its current rejection of that role. Using a historical analysis to understand how the United States came to serve as the world leader, Goldberg argues why the role of a liberal hegemon is the most effective way to guarantee global stability and growth and how the U.S has greatly benefited. 

Beginning in 1941 with its commitment under Lend Lease to support the nations under attack by the fascist powers, the United States assumed the mantle of the global liberal hegemon. It created and fostered various agreements and institutions that would enable it to fulfill this role such as Bretton Woods, the UN, and NATO. Equally important, America’s role as the liberal hegemon was endorsed by its allies which significantly increased the perception of authority that America could project. This has now all changed, and with it the security of the world we live in. 

This book looks at that 85-year span when America was the liberal hegemon, how it got there and now how it has abdicated that responsibility.

Edward Goldberg is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, USA. He is the author of Why Globalization Works For America: How Nationalist Trade Policies Are Destroying America (2020) and The Joint Ventured Nation: Why America Needs A New Foreign Policy (2016).