Even though there is widespread belief that the United States sought to spread liberal democracy around the world to promote human rights and peace, John Mearsheimer claims that the United States has become a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human rights, and threaten liberal values at home. He explains that liberal hegemony, the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended, is doomed to fail. Instead, he proposes Washington adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on an understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad.