Giacomo Chiozza is the Sir Easa Saleh Al-Gurg Professor of International Studies at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He has written extensively on the US world order and, in collaboration with H. E. Goemans and Kristian S. Gleditsch, created the award-winning dataset on political leaders, Archigos.

'An impressive work. The US world order faces an array of challenges from adversaries, partners, and the United States itself. Chiozza's book contributes to the literature on these challenges and offers important insights on the role of domestic institutions and leadership turnover in partner nations in shaping the US response to noncompliance. The book will certainly inform future research on US relations with other partner nations when faced with contestation over patterns of compliance and further theoretical inquiry into the intersection of international relations and domestic politics.' H. Richard Friman, H-Net

• 1. Introduction: the puzzle of US hegemonic leadership; 2. The United States as a shrewd sheriff; 3. Empirical tests for the shrewd sheriff; 4. The shrewd sheriff on the beat; 5. The shrewd sheriff and its core partners; 6. The shrewd sheriff and counterinsurgency partners; 7. New challenges for the shrewd sheriff; 8. Epilogue: the badge of the sheriff.