The Fourth Generation of Power
While classical international relations theories remain anchored to 17th-century state borders, MMSIR maps the modern world order shaped by supply chains, digital platforms, and capital networks.
Four Schools of Global Order
A comparative breakdown of how traditional international relations theories interpret sovereignty, power, and governance next to the Market Made paradigm.
Realism
Liberalism
English School
Market Made
Focuses on state military power, territorial boundaries, and zero-sum security dynamics. Treats global markets as secondary instruments of national policy.
Emphasizes international institutions, treaty frameworks, and cooperative trade. Views global markets as cooperative arenas regulated by sovereign states.
Focuses on a society of states bound by shared rules and diplomatic norms. Treats transnational market networks as subordinate to sovereign diplomacy.
Maps systemic network density, platform geopolitics, and supply chain chokepoints. Treats capital networks and digital platforms as sovereign global actors.
Sovereign Networks Govern Nations
Traditional IR theory assumes that political authority flows downward from the state to the economy. The Market Made paradigm reverses this lens, demonstrating how technical protocols, logistics chokepoints, and concentrated capital networks dictate the policy boundaries of modern governments.
By analyzing structural market power, we equip scholars and strategists with the tools to decode functional sovereignty. Power is no longer a matter of territorial control, but of systemic network density and the capacity to govern global flows.
Advance Your Analysis
Access our foundational research, monographs, and the flagship volume on corporate statecraft.