In this conversation with RevDem section heads Vera Scepanovic and Ferenc Laczó, Fritz Bartel – author of the new The Triumph of Broken Promises. The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism – explains how the notion of breaking promises can capture developments of the late Cold War period and why democracies proved more successful at doing so; argues that a structural explanation of the rise of neoliberalism is more convincing from a historical point of view; discusses how the U.S. empire came to pay for itself and with what consequences; and reflects on how his arguments about breaking promises in the Global North can help us understand political trends today.

Fritz Bartel is an assistant professor of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. 

The Triumph of Broken Promises. The End of the Cold War and the Rise of Neoliberalism is published by Harvard University Press.