Arms Races in International Politics: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century
Thomas Mahnken, Joseph Maiolo, and David Stevenson
Abstract
This book provides the first comprehensive history of the arms-racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. Written by an international team of specialists, it is divided into four sections: before 1914; the inter-war years; the Cold War; and extra-European and post-Cold War arms races. Twelve case studies examine land and naval armaments before the First World War; air as well as land and naval competition during the 1920s and 1930s; and nuclear as well as conventional weapons since 1945. Armaments policies a ... More
This book provides the first comprehensive history of the arms-racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. Written by an international team of specialists, it is divided into four sections: before 1914; the inter-war years; the Cold War; and extra-European and post-Cold War arms races. Twelve case studies examine land and naval armaments before the First World War; air as well as land and naval competition during the 1920s and 1930s; and nuclear as well as conventional weapons since 1945. Armaments policies are placed within the context of technological development and international politics and diplomacy, as well as that of of politics and economics within the societies concerned. An extended general introduction and conclusion, and four section introductions, provide coherence between the twelve more specialized chapters and draw out wider implications for policymakers and for political scientists. The book addresses two key questions: what causes arms races, and what is the connection between arms races and the outbreak of wars?
Keywords:
arms races,
international relations,
military policy,
world wars,
Cold War,
post-Cold War,
nuclear weapons,
armaments
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198735267 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198735267.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Thomas Mahnken, editor
Jerome Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security, US Naval War College
Joseph Maiolo, editor
Professor of International History, King's College London
David Stevenson, editor
Stevenson Professor of International History, London School of Economics & Political Science
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