The Rules-Based International Order

John Eithenbury is one of the leading theorists of a world based on rules and law. In Russia and China, American talk of a rules-based international order is usually dismissed as pure hypocrisy. He says it's a set of commitments by states to operate according to principles, rules and institutions that provide governance not simply dictated by who is most powerful. At the deepest level, it's really the system of sovereignty.