Source
Adapted from "The Provider of Order," a discussion of hegemonic stability theory, published in an international relations textbook, 2020.
An open and stable international order does not arise on its own. It depends, this theory argues, on a single dominant state powerful enough, and willing, to supply the public goods that cooperation requires: open markets, a stable reserve currency, secure sea lanes and the enforcement of agreed rules. Because such goods benefit even states that do not pay for them, only a hegemon has both the capacity and the incentive to bear the cost. While the leading power underwrites the system, trade flows and commitments hold. As its relative strength declines, and rivals free-ride or challenge the rules, the order it built begins to fray.
With explicit reference to the source and one example you have studied, how hegemonic stability theory accounts for the maintenance of an open international economic order.
