The simplest and most readily accepted explanation for the onset of the American war against Iraq focuses on the beliefs and actions of President George W. Bush and his neoconservative advisors. While certainly not absolving the President or the neocons of their substantial responsibility for the fiasco of the war, Michael MacDonald casts a much…
Month: November 2015
Article Review 45 on “The Inscrutable Intentions of Great Powers.”
In his recent article “The Inscrutable Intentions of Great Powers,” Sebastian Rosato argues that it is far more difficult for states to signal their intentions than existing scholarship recognizes. He claims that the various signaling mechanisms proposed in the IR literature — both domestic-level characteristics and international-level behaviors — “at best…allow for marginal reductions in…
Roundtable 8-4 on Bargaining on Nuclear Tests: Washington And Its Cold War Rivals
Preventing sovereign states from acquiring and deploying a military technology that all but guarantees their security is beyond difficult. Early in the nuclear age, many United States policymakers and analysts thought that nuclear nonproliferation efforts were, at worst, impossible, and, at best, too costly. Despite this pessimism, the U.S. has made nuclear non-proliferation a priority…
Article Review 44 on “Pakistan’s Battlefield Nuclear Policy: A Risky Solution to an Exaggerated Threat.”
In April 2011, Pakistan tested a new missile, the Hatf-9 Nasr, designed to deliver nuclear warheads to targets within a 60-kilometer range. While scholars had inferred that Pakistan’s nuclear posture might require it to employ nuclear weapons against tactical targets on the battlefield,[1] this was the first platform designed explicitly for that goal. This missile…
Article Review 43 on “Is There an Oil Weapon? Security Implications of Changes in the Structure of the International Oil Market.”
Llewelyn Hughes and Austin Long provide a thoughtful analysis of contemporary energy security. The strengths of the article make it a valuable resource for anyone interested in energy security, policymakers, and scholars. It asks some vital questions for modern international security, including how serious the risks are to any given state’s oil supply, and who…