In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, John M. Owen IV – author of the new bookThe Ecology of Nations. American Democracy in a Fragile
World Order – explains what he means by co-evolution and the regime-power dilemma; shows how authoritarian rivals, such as China and Russia, have attempted to engineer their ecosystems; discusses the three historical ages of liberalism and what might replace the currently
dominant form of open liberalism; and reflects on what the emergence of two rather separate but partly overlapping
international ecosystems might imply for the future.
John M. Owen IV is Amb. Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Miller Center for Public Affairs.
The Ecology of Nations. American Democracy in a
Fragile World Order has been published by Yale University Press.
