Polycentric Federalism and World Orders

This volume seeks to apply creative and thoughtful insights about polycentric orders to the fields of interpolity relations and libertarian & classical liberal studies. Classical liberal thinkers such as Ludwig von Mises, Vincent Ostrom, and F.A. Hayek have all broached the idea of a libertarian world government. These broaches, however, were but wistful musings rather than full-throated explorations about world orders. This volume aims to gather those musings from the discard pile and take them as far as logically possible. Three core themes – non-intervention, sovereignties, and federation - have emerged from this work and they anchor the volume with the hope that these themes will help guide scholars, policy wonks, and citizens alike in their efforts to revitalize a now-stale debate about “libertarian foreign policy.” As the Cold War continues to grow smaller in the world’s rearview mirror, the old libertarian playbook of peaceful isolation (at least in the United States) makes no sense. Polycentric orders, on the other hand, offer up a plethora of new ideas on how liberty can be applied to the world’s most pressing problems of today and tomorrow. This is an interesting and enriching volume that explores interpolity relations and liberty from an interdisciplinary and interideological perspective. If you are tired of the stale debates and predictable takes on foreign affairs happening in the capitals of the world's nation-states, then this book is for you.
Brandon Christensen is the founder and editor-in-chief of Isonomia Quarterly, and is also the editor of the two-volume book set Liberty and Security in an Anarchical World (2024).