Strategic Rivalries in World Politics: Position, Space and Conflict Escalation

by Michael P. Colaresi , Karen Rasler , William R. Thompson

• ISBN13: 9780521881340
• ISBN10: 052188134X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

International conflict is neither random nor inexplicable. It is highly structured by antagonisms between a relatively small set of states that regard each other as rivals. Examining the 173 strategic rivalries in operation throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this book identifies the differences rivalries make in the probability of conflict escalation and analyzes how they interact with serial crises, arms races, alliances and capability advantages. The authors distinguish between rivalries concerning territorial disagreement (space) and rivalries concerning status and influence (position) and show how each leads to markedly different patterns of conflict escalation. They argue that rivals are more likely to engage in international conflict with their antagonists than non-rival pairs of states and conclude with an assessment of whether we can expect democratic peace, economic development and economic interdependence to constrain rivalry-induced conflict.

Author Biography

William R. Thompson is Rogers Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. ix
List of tables	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiv
About strategic rivalries
An introduction to strategic rivalries	p. 3
Defining and identifying strategic rivalries in world politics	p. 21
Describing strategic rivalries	p. 73
The dangers of strategic rivalries: Crisis behavior and escalation
Protracted conflict and crisis escalation	p. 101
Serial crisis behavior and escalating risks	p. 132
Playing to type: Spatial and positional issues in strategic rivalries
Contiguity, space and position in the major power subsystem	p. 161
Initiating and escalating positional and spatial rivalries	p. 189
Filling in some steps to war
Arms build-ups and alliances in the steps-to-war theory	p. 219
Contested territory and conflict escalation	p. 240
Strategic rivalries and conflict
Inducements, facilitators, and suppressors	p. 275
References	p. 291
Index	p. 307
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