When and why do powerful countries seek to enact major changes to international order, the broad set of rules that guide behavior in world politics? This question is particularly important today given the Trump administration's clear disregard for the reigning liberal international order in the United States. Across the globe, there is also uncertainty over what China might seek to replace that order with as it continues to amass power and influence. Together, these developments mean that what motivates great powers to shape and change order will remain at the forefront of debates over the future of world politics. Prior studies have focused on how the origins of international orders have been consensus-driven and inclusive. By contrast, Kyle Lascurettes argues in Orders of Exclusion that the propelling motivation for great power order building has typically been exclusionary. Dominant powers pursue fundamental changes to order when they perceive a major new threat on the horizon. Moreover, they do so for the purpose of targeting this perceived threat, be it another powerful state or a foreboding ideological movement. The goal of order building, then, is blocking that threatening entity from amassing further influence, a motive Lascurettes illustrates at work across more than three hundred years of international history. Far from falling outside of the bounds of traditional statecraft, order building is the continuation of power politics by other means.

About the Author
Kyle M. Lascurettes is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where he specializes in global order, international institutions, and international relations theory.

Reviews
Orders of exclusion offers a historically informed analysis of the formation of international orders and provides a timely interpretation of the leading challenges facing current policy-makers. * Jordan Becker, United States Army and United States Military Academy, USA, International Affairs *
The book offers a new explanation for great power order building with a focus on political competition and exclusion, rather than cooperation and inclusion. * Zheng Chen, China International Strategy Review *
In this impressive study of order building in the modern era, Lascurettes argues that powerful states have long shaped the rules of the international order to undermine rival states. The book offers detailed historical accounts of great ordering moments from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. * G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs *
...Lascurettes provides a thought-provoking long-term view of international history that should stimulate theorists and practitioners in their work on a system for the future. And while the accounts of history are insightful, the real strength of the book is their re-interpretation and the long-term patterns that they illustrate. 'Orders of Exclusion' is a fascinating study of history, diplomatic strategy, and international relations theory. * Benjamin Duerr, Global Policy *
Why do states construct international orders? In this insightful and informative work, Kyle M. Lascurettes argues that they do so as a means of countering threats to their national security. In contrast to those who view international order as arising from consensus about the rules that should govern international behavior, Lascurettes portrays the creation of order as a competitive and conflictual process - a manifestation of power politics rather than an alternative to it. * Stephen A. Kocs, International Studies Review *
Anyone interested in the past, present, and especially the future of the US-led 'rules-based liberal order' needs to read this book. Kyle Lascurettes delivers a bracingly revisionist, profoundly learned, and historically rich reconsideration of the theory and practice of international orders with major implications for US strategic choices.Whether or not you buy every argument, this book will make you a lot smarter about the power politics of inter-state orders from Westphalia to the end of the Cold War and beyond * William C. Wohlforth, Daniel Webster Professor, Government Department, Dartmouth College *
In this arresting book, Lascurettes argues that, paradoxically, the US designed a liberal order in the 1940s precisely to exclude and weaken the anti-liberal Soviet Union.The theorizing in this book is subtle, the historical evidence formidable, and the conclusion for the future of Sino-American relations sobering. * John M. Owen, IV, Taylor Professor and Chair of Politics, University of Virginia *


Awards
Winner of Winner, 2021 Otto Hieronymi Prize for International Relations Winner, 2021 Robert L. Jervis-Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award, International History and Politics Section, American Political Science Association.



Book Information
ISBN 9780190068554
Author Kyle M. Lascurettes
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 496g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 24mm