Mixed Blessings

International Relationships of Assistance and Conflict
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-009-78231-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 260 Seiten

Who your friends are shapes who your enemies are and vice versa. Starting with this premise, Mixed Blessings takes up two related research questions: how does a state's relational web of security assistance (amity) influence its relationships of threat (enmity), and how does a state's relational web of enmity influence its relationships of amity? Drawing on theories of alliance politics and deterrence theory, Kyle Beardsley uncovers the causes and consequences of security assistance through quantitative examination of the networked and relational nature of international politics. Qualitative assessments of the end of the Cold War-with particular attention to the proxy wars in Central America and Southern Africa-and recent developments in the Indo-Pacific further illustrate the mechanisms in play while also seeding the ground for ongoing inquiry. The lessons learned from the analyses directly bear on questions of American statecraft and the collapsing liberal international order.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Beardsley, Kyle

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Making friends, making foes: a logic of relationship coevolution; 3. Somebody to lean on; 4. The mixed blessings of having friends; 5. Two to tango, more to mosh: interstate entangling relations and intrastate conflict management; 6. Network interplay in the Indo-Pacific; 7. Conclusions; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Beardsley, Kyle
Kyle Beardsley is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke University. He is an award-winning author of over forty peer-reviewed articles. His books include The Mediation Dilemma (2011) and Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping (2017).