Untied Hands

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-59607-7
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 390 g

How do states advance their national security interests? Conventional wisdom holds that states must court the risk of catastrophic war by 'tying their hands' to credibly protect their interests. Dan Reiter overturns this perspective with the compelling argument that states craft flexible foreign policies to avoid unwanted wars. Through a comprehensive analysis of key international crises, including the Berlin, Taiwan Straits, and Cuban Missile Crises, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Reiter provides new perspectives on the causes of wars, the role of international alliances, foreign troop deployments, leader madness, and the impact of AI on international relations. With critical insights into contemporary foreign policy challenges, such as America's role in NATO, the risks of war with China, containing a resurgent Russia, and the dangers of nuclear war, Untied Hands is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how states can effectively manage international crises while avoiding the wrong wars.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Reiter, Dan

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: tied hands and the search for credibility; 2. Keeping hands untied to avoid the wrong war; 3. Brinkmanship: why states do not play Russian roulette; 4. The absence of brinkmanship success; 5. The flexibility of alliance commitments; 6. The flexibility of America's Cold War alliances; 7. Tripwire force deployments; 8. Leaders without reason and machines without souls; 9. Conclusions.

Über Autor(innen)

Reiter, Dan
Dan Reiter is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Political Science at Emory University. He is the award-winning author of several books and the recipient of the 2002 Deutsch Award from the International Studies Association for the world's leading international relations scholar under forty or within ten years of receiving the Ph.D.