Great powers often initiate risky military and diplomatic inventions in far-off, peripheral regions that pose no direct threat to them, risking direct confrontation with rivals in strategically inconsequential places. Why do powerful countries behave in a way that leads to entrapment in prolonged, expensive, and self-defeating conflicts?

Jeffrey W. Taliaferro suggests that such interventions are driven by the refusal of senior officials to accept losses in their state's relative power, international status, or prestige. Instead of cutting their losses, leaders often continue to invest blood and money in failed excursions into the periphery. Their policies may seem to be driven by rational concerns about power and security, but Taliaferro deems them to be at odds with the master explanation of political realism.

Taliaferro constructs a "balance-of-risk" theory of foreign policy that draws on defensive realism (in international relations) and prospect theory (in psychology). He illustrates the power of this new theory in several case narratives: Germany's initiation and escalation of the 1905 and 1911 Moroccan crises, the United States' involvement in the Korean War in 1950-52, and Japan's entanglement in the second Sino-Japanese war in 1937-40 and its decisions for war with the U.S. in 1940-41.

About the Author

Jeffrey W. Taliaferro is Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University.

Reviews

Great powers have frequently become embroiled in costly wars in peripheral regions that pose no direct threat.... In this historically rich and theoretically elegant study, Taliaferro tackles the question of why states persist in such counterproductive interventions.... It provides a useful cautionary message as the United States embarks on far-flung counterterrorism operations in the periphery.

* Foreign Affairs *

Taliaferro skillfully blends two lines of theorizing defensive realism and prospect theory, to explain the conditions under which leaders of great powers are more or less likely to adopt risky foreign military policies.... Balancing Risks is a thoroughly researched and well written addition to the literature.

* Virginia Quarterly Review *


Awards
Winner of Winner of the 2005 Jervis-Schroeder Award (Interna.



Book Information
ISBN 9780801442216
Author Jeffrey W. Taliaferro
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 25mm