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Deterrence Theory Revisited
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 June 2011
Abstract
Because of its parsimony and power, deterrence theory is the most important American theory of international relations. Yet it has many faults. The boundaries outside of which it does not apply are not clear; it does not tell how a state can change an adversary's motives; it does not deal with the use of rewards. Current scholarship of the third wave of deterrence theory, including George and Smoke's Deterrence in American Foreign Policy, has increased our knowledge by providing empirical evidence on when and how deterrence fails. Examination of the details of decision making reveals the ways in which attempts to deter can go wrong. Recent work stresses the role of each side's intrinsic interest in an issue, and argues that earlier formulations of the theory exaggerated the importance of commitment. The third wave also introduces a larger political element by focusing attention on states' goals and the context of their behavior.
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References
1 As Schelling has noted in Arms and Influence (New Haven: Yale University Press 1966), 2–18, the theory deals with the broader category of coercion, which includes compellence as well as deterrence. I have used the term “deterrence theory” because it has such wide currency.
2 In addition to George and Smoke, the main writings I have in mind are George, Alexander, Hall, David, and Simons, William, The Limits of Coercive Diplomacy (Boston: Little, Brown 1971)Google Scholar; Russett, Bruce, “The Calculus of Deterrence,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, VII (June 1963), 97–109CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fink, Clinton, “More Calculations About Deterrence,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, IX (March 1965), 54–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morgan, Patrick, Deterrence (Beverly Hills: Sage 1977)Google Scholar; Snyder, Glenn and Diesing, Paul, Conflict Among Nations (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1977)Google Scholar; Young, Oran R., The Politics of Force (Princeton: Princeton University Press 1968)Google Scholar; Smoke, Richard, War (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1978).Google Scholar
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55 Although the effect resembles that following from defaulting on a commitment, there is an important difference. In defaulting on a commitment, the actor's reputation for fulfilling his pledges suffers. In the inference process described here, the outcome is less important than the price the actor has paid in trying to prevail. Others note this cost and the value they think the actor places on the issue at stake and expect a similar relationship to hold in the future. What may have impressed others about America's behavior in Vietnam was not that it reneged on a commitment but that it was willing to pay such a high price for an unimportant interest. (Of course, others may also believe that the American experience in Vietnam reduced its willingness to pay such a price in the future.) Interestingly enough, Kissinger once argued that “continued U.S. credibility, worldwide, hinges on whether we make an effort [in Vietnam] rather than on an actual success or failure” (Snepp, , fn. 53, 306).Google Scholar But this remark was in service of an attempt to persuade Congress to provide aid for Vietnam in the last months of the war.
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