In this provocative book, Robert Latham argues that World War II and its aftermath constituted a unique moment in world history when the United States, in consort with other Western nations, attempted to impose an order upon the world based on principles of self-determination and liberal democracy. He distinguishes between international liberalism, which emerged in the nineteenth century as a body of principles, institutions, and practices, and international liberal order, which arose after World War II in the context of structural conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union. Latham demonstrates how tensions between domestic politics and international liberalism within the United States led to a reliance upon military strength and intervention in the international arena -- quicker and less costly than political and economic means such as buildIng liberal institutions abroad.

At a time when international liberal order is again becoming an organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy, The Liberal Moment sounds a cautionary note by showing how knowledge of postwar order-building should shape approaches to order, international institutions, and policy-making in the post-cold war world.