It is clear by now that the end of the Cold War and the period of relative peace, globalization, and prosperity that ensued after the collapse of the USSR and its satellites was no end of history. Instead, the United States sat briefly alone at the helm of the world order, where it made a series of navigational errors. It diverted scarce resources and political capital into the global war on terror and outsourced its vast industrial base to developing countries and geopolitical rivals alike. Meanwhile, revisionist powers such as Russia and China collected themselves enough to challenge the status quo. This has proved to be the death knell of the rules-based international order, which, in hindsight, seems to have been little more than a coy euphemism for the liberal, corporatized American empire.