Michael Cox is Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the London School of Economics (LSE). He was one of the founding directors of LSE's foreign policy think tank LSE IDEAS, and he also holds a visiting professorship at the Catholic University of Milan. The author, editor and co-editor of over 30 books, his most recent include Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden (Bristol University Press, 2022); Afghanistan: Long War - Forgotten Peace (LSE Press, 2022); and Ukraine: Russia's War and the Future of the Global Order (LSE Press, 2023).

Doug Stokes is Professor in International Relations, Modul University, Vienna. He was previously Director of Exeter University's Strategy and Security Institute, and Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). His major research focus is on the durability of the US-led liberal international order and the ways in which great powers can use military power to shape international relations. His books include Against Decolonisation: The Campus Culture Wars and the Decline of the West (Polity, 2023) and Global Energy Security and American Hegemony (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010).