Unanswered Threats Political Constraints On The Balance Of Power

Author : Randall L. Schweller
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400837855
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Unanswered Threats written by Randall L. Schweller and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-16 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Michael Sheehan
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134813155
Total Pages : 244 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Balance Of Power written by Michael Sheehan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-11-11 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The balance of power principle has been central to both the study and practice of international politics for over 300 years. It has guided governments in the conduct of foreign policy and provided a structure for explanations of some of the recurring patterns of international relations. This study examines the various meanings given to the balance of power over the centuries and traces the historical evolution of its theory and practice through steadily more complex forms. It describes the balance principle in practice, both as a guiding light of national foreign policies and as a structural explanation of how the international system operates. The reader is provided with an understanding of the various meanings of the balance principle and the key thinkers and politicians who have influenced its development. The text presents the essence of arguments concerning the morality of the principle as a foreign policy guide and its value as a structural explanation of the fundamental reality of international relations.

Author : Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501725076
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rising Titans, Falling Giants written by Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a rising great power flexes its muscles on the political-military scene it must examine how to manage its relationships with states suffering from decline; and it has to do so in a careful and strategic manner. In Rising Titans, Falling Giants Joshua R. Itzkowitz Shifrinson focuses on the policies that rising states adopt toward their declining competitors in response to declining states’ policies, and what that means for the relationship between the two. Rising Titans, Falling Giants integrates disparate approaches to realism into a single theoretical framework, provides new insight into the sources of cooperation and competition in international relations, and offers a new empirical treatment of great power politics at the start and end of the Cold War. Shifrinson challenges the existing historical interpretations of diplomatic history, particularly in terms of the United States-China relationship. Whereas many analysts argue that these two nations are on a collision course, Shifrinson declares instead that rising states often avoid antagonizing those in decline, and highlights episodes that suggest the US-China relationship may prove to be far less conflict-prone than we might expect.

Author : Sujian Guo
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 9780739118771
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book New Dimensions of Chinese Foreign Policy written by Sujian Guo and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New Dimensions of Chinese Foreign Policy is an in-depth analysis of China's new place in international affairs. Taking Hu Jintao's proposal for "peaceful development" as a starting point, the contributors in this volume examine the new trends of thought in the fourth generation of Chinese policymakers. Special emphasis is placed on US-China relations. Editors Sujian Guo and Shiping Hua have assembled a list of contributors--many of which are Chinese or Chinese-American scholars--with thorough knowledge of changes in Chinese foreign policy and their implications for the world. The essays contained in this volume cover a comprehensive breadth of topics, including: China's changing ideology in foreign policy, Chinese elite perspectives on the rise of China, the political orientations of the emerging elite, social dimensions of China's power status, "soft power" management, approaches to the North Korean nuclear issues, Middle East foreign policy, entry into World Trade Organization and foreign trade policy, changing attitudes toward international regimes, and the implications of China-U.S. interdependence. The insightful contributions of New Dimensions of Chinese Foreign Policy is essential reading for any student or researcher of contemporary Chinese politics.

Author : Randall L. Schweller
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780231110730
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Deadly Imbalances written by Randall L. Schweller and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Author : Kenneth Neal Waltz
Publisher : McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.77/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Theory of International Politics written by Kenneth Neal Waltz and published by McGraw-Hill Humanities, Social Sciences & World Languages. This book was released on 1979 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forfatterens mål med denne bog er: 1) Analyse af de gældende teorier for international politik og hvad der heri er lagt størst vægt på. 2) Konstruktion af en teori for international politik som kan kan råde bod på de mangler, der er i de nu gældende. 3) Afprøvning af den rekonstruerede teori på faktiske hændelsesforløb.

Author : Randall L. Schweller
Publisher : JHU Press
ISBN 13 : 1421412780
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Maxwell's Demon and the Golden Apple written by Randall L. Schweller and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mixing myth, entropy, and Angry Birds, Randall Schweller brings a novel perspective to international studies. Just what exactly will follow the American century? This is the question Randall L. Schweller explores in his provocative assessment of international politics in the twenty-first century. Schweller considers the future of world politics, correlating our reliance on technology and our multitasking, distracted, disorganized lives with a fragmenting world order. He combines the Greek myth of the Golden Apple of Discord, which explains the start of the Trojan War, with a look at the second law of thermodynamics, or entropy. "In the coming age,” Schweller writes, “disorder will reign supreme as the world succumbs to . . . entropy, an irreversible process of disorganization that governs the direction of all physical changes taking place in the universe.” Interweaving his theory of global disorder with issues on the world stage—coupled with a disquisition on board games and the cell phone app "Angry Birds"—Schweller’s thesis yields astonishing insights. Maxwell’s Demon and the Golden Apple will appeal to leaders of multinational corporations and government programs as well as instructors of undergraduate courses in international relations.

Author : Steven E. Lobell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9781139475747
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Neoclassical Realism, the State, and Foreign Policy written by Steven E. Lobell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neoclassical realism is an important approach to international relations. Focusing on the interaction of the international system and the internal dynamics of states, neoclassical realism seeks to explain the grand strategies of individual states as opposed to recurrent patterns of international outcomes. This book offers the first systematic survey of the neoclassical realist approach. The editors lead a group of senior and emerging scholars in presenting a variety of neoclassical realist approaches to states' grand strategies. They examine the central role of the 'state' and seek to explain why, how, and under what conditions the internal characteristics of states intervene between their leaders' assessments of international threats and opportunities, and the actual diplomatic, military, and foreign economic policies those leaders are likely to pursue.

Author : S. Kaufman
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 023059168X
Total Pages : 279 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Balance of Power in World History written by S. Kaufman and published by Springer. This book was released on 2007-08-22 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The balance of power is one of the most influential ideas in international relations, yet it has never been comprehensively examined in pre-modern or non-European contexts. This book redresses this imbalance. The authors present eight new case studies of balancing and balancing failure in pre-modern and non-European international systems.

Author : Xiaochuan Sang
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9811328927
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Power, Interests, and Internal Factors written by Xiaochuan Sang and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-12-17 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book frames the contentious political disputes surrounding Taiwan within the perspective of neorealist political theory. Analyzing the motives and relative importance that the actors involved bring to bear, Dr. Sang offers a timely intervention and a much-needed reality check on the role that Taiwan plays in structuring US-China-Japan trilateral relations—an issue that will dominate the years to come. This book will be of value to scholars, policymakers, and all those concerned with the future of Taiwan.