The Ecology of Nations

How democracies compete with autocracies to bias international order in their favour—and why democracies are losing It is well known, and much discussed, that liberal democracy is in trouble worldwide. Much of this discussion focuses on conditions within individual countries: their inequalities of wealth, political polarisation, media environments, and dominant ideologies. In The Ecology of Nations, John M. Owen IV takes a more ecological view and sees the failures of democracy as failures of “ecosystem engineering.” Like beavers, nesting ants, or (most intensely of all) humans, nations actively reshape their environments to make them more favourable for their own species—this, for Owen, is the true meaning of Woodrow Wilson’s phrase “to make the world safe for democracy.” However, liberalism has evolved in ways that are no longer conducive to its own survival; meanwhile, autocratic governments in Russia and China are actively reshaping the international environment to favour autocracy. Focusing on the American political scene, Owen argues that the way to ensure democracy’s survival is to reimagine liberalism as being less about disruption and perpetual openness and more about commitment, community, and country. Liberalism must reject the “great delusion” that it can defeat autocracies everywhere and convert them into liberal democracies, yet also counter moves by China and Russia to make the world safe for autocracy.