"The U.S. is addicted to war"

“Liberal hegemony is basically where the U.S. tries to remake the world in its own image,” said John J. Mearsheimer, author of the new book, “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities.” 

Mearsheimer, a political science professor and co-director of the University of Chicago’s Program on International Security Policy, said liberal hegemony involves three tasks: spreading liberal democracy around the world; getting other nations “hooked” on capitalism by creating an open, international economy; and including countries in international institutions that the U.S. has played a key role in creating.

“So as we begin to push towards Russia and China and think about regime change, which is what liberal hegemony is all about, you get a realist backlash from countries like Russia and China,” Mearsheimer continued. “And that’s when you get something like the Ukrainian crisis.”