TY  - BOOK
AU  - Schweller,Randall L.
TI  - Unanswered threats: political constraints on the balance of power 
T2  - Princeton studies in international history and politics
SN  - 9781400837854
AV  - JZ1313 .S39 2008eb
U1  - 327.112 23
PY  - 2008///
CY  - Princeton, N.J., Oxford
PB  - Princeton University Press
KW  - Balance of power
KW  - History
KW  - Case studies
KW  - Équilibre des puissances
KW  - Histoire
KW  - Études de cas
KW  - POLITICAL SCIENCE
KW  - Globalization
KW  - bisacsh
KW  - International Relations
KW  - Diplomacy
KW  - fast
KW  - Sicherheitspolitik
KW  - gnd
KW  - Gleichgewichtspolitik
KW  - Electronic books
KW  - gtlm
KW  - lcgft
KW  - rvmgf
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (pages 153-164) and index; Balance of power and the puzzle of underbalancing behavior -- Prudence in managing changes in the balance of power -- A theory of underbalancing : a neoclassical realist explanation -- Great-power case studies : interwar France and Britain, and France, 1877-1913 -- Small-power case studies : Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and the War of the Triple Alliance, 1864-1870 -- Why are states so timid? State coherence and expansion in the age of mass politics
N2  - 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
UR  - https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=355999
ER  -