Unanswered Threats

Unanswered Threats
Title Unanswered Threats PDF eBook
Author Randall L. Schweller
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 197
Release 2010-12-16
Genre Political Science
ISBN 1400837855

Download Unanswered Threats Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Why have states throughout history regularly underestimated dangers to their survival? Why have some states been able to mobilize their material resources effectively to balance against threats, while others have not been able to do so? The phenomenon of "underbalancing" is a common but woefully underexamined behavior in international politics. Underbalancing occurs when states fail to recognize dangerous threats, choose not to react to them, or respond in paltry and imprudent ways. It is a response that directly contradicts the core prediction of structural realism's balance-of-power theory--that states motivated to survive as autonomous entities are coherent actors that, when confronted by dangerous threats, act to restore the disrupted balance by creating alliances or increasing their military capabilities, or, in some cases, a combination of both. Consistent with the new wave of neoclassical realist research, Unanswered Threats offers a theory of underbalancing based on four domestic-level variables--elite consensus, elite cohesion, social cohesion, and regime/government vulnerability--that channel, mediate, and redirect policy responses to external pressures and incentives. The theory yields five causal schemes for underbalancing behavior, which are tested against the cases of interwar Britain and France, France from 1877 to 1913, and the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) that pitted tiny Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Randall Schweller concludes that those most likely to underbalance are incoherent, fragmented states whose elites are constrained by political considerations.

Unanswered Threats

Unanswered Threats
Title Unanswered Threats PDF eBook
Author Randall L. Schweller
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 206
Release 2006
Genre Political Science
ISBN 9780691124254

Download Unanswered Threats Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Why have states throughout history regularly underestimated dangers to their survival? Why have some states been able to mobilize their material resources effectively to balance against threats, while others have not been able to do so? The phenomenon of "underbalancing" is a common but woefully underexamined behavior in international politics. Underbalancing occurs when states fail to recognize dangerous threats, choose not to react to them, or respond in paltry and imprudent ways. It is a response that directly contradicts the core prediction of structural realism's balance-of-power theory--that states motivated to survive as autonomous entities are coherent actors that, when confronted by dangerous threats, act to restore the disrupted balance by creating alliances or increasing their military capabilities, or, in some cases, a combination of both. Consistent with the new wave of neoclassical realist research, Unanswered Threats offers a theory of underbalancing based on four domestic-level variables--elite consensus, elite cohesion, social cohesion, and regime/government vulnerability--that channel, mediate, and redirect policy responses to external pressures and incentives. The theory yields five causal schemes for underbalancing behavior, which are tested against the cases of interwar Britain and France, France from 1877 to 1913, and the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) that pitted tiny Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Randall Schweller concludes that those most likely to underbalance are incoherent, fragmented states whose elites are constrained by political considerations.

Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power

Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power
Title Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power PDF eBook
Author Randall L. Schweller
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 200
Release 2008-03-30
Genre Political Science
ISBN 9780691136462

Download Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Why have states throughout history regularly underestimated dangers to their survival? Why have some states been able to mobilize their material resources effectively to balance against threats, while others have not been able to do so? The phenomenon of "underbalancing" is a common but woefully underexamined behavior in international politics. Underbalancing occurs when states fail to recognize dangerous threats, choose not to react to them, or respond in paltry and imprudent ways. It is a response that directly contradicts the core prediction of structural realism's balance-of-power theory--that states motivated to survive as autonomous entities are coherent actors that, when confronted by dangerous threats, act to restore the disrupted balance by creating alliances or increasing their military capabilities, or, in some cases, a combination of both. Consistent with the new wave of neoclassical realist research, Unanswered Threats offers a theory of underbalancing based on four domestic-level variables--elite consensus, elite cohesion, social cohesion, and regime/government vulnerability--that channel, mediate, and redirect policy responses to external pressures and incentives. The theory yields five causal schemes for underbalancing behavior, which are tested against the cases of interwar Britain and France, France from 1877 to 1913, and the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) that pitted tiny Paraguay against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Randall Schweller concludes that those most likely to underbalance are incoherent, fragmented states whose elites are constrained by political considerations.

Between Threats and War

Between Threats and War
Title Between Threats and War PDF eBook
Author Micah Zenko
Publisher Stanford University Press
Pages 241
Release 2010-08-03
Genre Political Science
ISBN 0804771901

Download Between Threats and War Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

In Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World, author Micah Zenko presents a new concept to capture and illuminate the phenomenon: "Discrete Military Operations."

Threat Warning

Threat Warning
Title Threat Warning PDF eBook
Author John Gilstrap
Publisher Pinnacle Books
Pages 405
Release 2011-01-28
Genre Fiction
ISBN 0786028661

Download Threat Warning Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A hostage rescue specialist is on the trail of a homegrown terrorist organization in this thriller by the New York Times bestselling author. When a cult-like paramilitary group decides to make its deadly presence known, the first victims are random. Ordinary citizens going about their lives in Washington, D.C., are suddenly fired upon at rush hour by unseen assassins. Caught in the crossfire of one of the attacks, rescue specialist Jonathan Grave spies a gunman getting away—with a mother and her young son as hostages. To free them, Grave and his Security Solutions team must enter the dark heart of a nationwide conspiracy. But their search goes beyond the frenzied schemes of a madman's deadly ambitions. This time, it reaches all the way to the highest levels of power…

The Stupidity of War

The Stupidity of War
Title The Stupidity of War PDF eBook
Author John Mueller
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 343
Release 2021-03-04
Genre History
ISBN 1108843832

Download The Stupidity of War Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This innovative argument shows the consequences of increased aversion to international war for foreign and military policy.

Deadly Imbalances

Deadly Imbalances
Title Deadly Imbalances PDF eBook
Author Randall L. Schweller
Publisher Columbia University Press
Pages 284
Release 1998
Genre History
ISBN 9780231110730

Download Deadly Imbalances Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Scholars frequently portray the Second World War as an epic morality play driven by a villain (Hitler) and a sinner (Chamberlain). Deadly Imbalances offers a new approach, combining both the attributes of states and the structure of the international system to explain the origins and causes of the war. Central to Schweller's analysis is the argument that the structure of the international system was tripolar--with Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States as the three central powers--and that this needs to be considered in any examination of the antecedent causes and crucial events of the war.