Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Van Evera, Stephen, author.

Title Causes of war : power and the roots of conflict / Stephen Van Evera
Published Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1999

Copies

Description 1 online resource (viii, 268 pages)
Series Cornell studies in security affairs
Cornell studies in security affairs.
Contents Questions Addressed, Why They Arise -- Arguments Advanced, Answers Offered -- Implications for Realism -- Methods -- Plan of the Book -- False Optimism: Illusions of the Coming War -- False Hope and War -- Illusions of Victory -- Illusions of Cheap War -- To Prevent War, Promote Transparency -- Jumping the Gun: First-Move Advantages and Crisis Instability -- First-Strike, First-Mobilization, and First-Move Advantages -- Hypotheses on the Effects of First-Move Advantages -- Tests of Stability Theory -- Causes of and Cures for First-Move Advantage -- Power Shifts: Windows of Opportunity and Vulnerability -- Types of Windows -- Hypotheses on the Effects of Windows -- Tests of Window Theory -- Causes and Cures of Windows -- Cumulative Resources -- What Is Cumulativity? -- Cumulativity and Conflict -- Types of Cumulativity -- Beliefs about Cumulativity and Their Implications -- The Future of Cumulativity -- Offense, Defense, and the Security Dilemma -- Hypotheses on the Effects of Offense Dominance -- Qualifications: When Offensive Doctrines and Capabilities Cause Peace -- Causes of Offense and Defense Dominance -- Predictions and Tests of Offense-Defense Theory -- How Much History Can Offense-Defense Theory Explain? -- Offense-Defense Theory in Perspective -- Offense-Defense Theory and the Outbreak of World War I -- The Rise of the Cult of the Offensive, 1890-1914 -- Predictions of Offense-Defense Theory about Europe, 1890-1914 -- Evidence on Offense-Defense Theory, 1890-1914 -- Offense-Defense Theory and the Test of 1914
Summary What causes war? How can military conflicts best be prevented? In this book, Stephen Van Evera frames five conditions that increase the risk of interstate war: false optimism about the likely outcome of a war, a first-strike advantage, fluctuation in the relative power of states, circumstances that allow nations to parlay one conquest into another, and circumstances that make conquest easy.According to Van Evera, all but one of these conditions-false optimism-rarely occur today, but policymakers often erroneously believe in their existence. He argues that these misperceptions are responsible for many modern wars, and explores both World Wars, the Korean War, and the 1967 Mideast War as test cases. Finally, he assesses the possibility of nuclear war by applying all five hypotheses to its potential onset. Van Evera's book demonstrates that ideas from the Realist paradigm can offer strong explanations for international conflict and valuable prescriptions for its control
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
English
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject War.
Balance of power.
International relations -- Case studies
Armed Conflicts
89.76 polemology.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Security (National & International)
HISTORY -- Military -- Other.
TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING -- Military Science.
Balance of power
International relations
War
Oorlog.
Oorzaken.
War.
Balance of power.
International relations.
War and peace research.
Immigration law.
International relations.
Genre/Form Case studies
Case studies.
Études de cas.
Form Electronic book
LC no. 98043650
ISBN 9780801467196
0801467195
0801467187
9780801467189
1322504512
9781322504513