Coercion: The Power to Hurt in International Politics

From the rising significance of non-state actors to the increasing influence of regional powers, the nature and conduct of international politics has arguably changed dramatically since the height of the Cold War. Yet much of the literature on deterrence and compellence continues to draw (whether implicitly or explicitly) upon assumptions and precepts formulated in-and predicated upon-politics in a state-centric, bipolar world. Coercion moves beyond these somewhat hidebound premises and examines the critical issue of coercion in the 21st century, with a particular focus on new actors, strategies and objectives in this very old bargaining game. The chapters in this volume examine intra-state, inter-state, and transnational coercion and deterrence as well as both military and non-military instruments of persuasion, thus expanding our understanding of coercion for conflict in the 21st century. ? Scholars have analyzed the causes, dynamics, and effects of coercion for decades, but previous works have principally focused on a single state employing conventional military means to pressure another state to alter its behavior. In contrast, this volume captures fresh developments, both theoretical and policy relevant. This chapters in this volume focus on tools (terrorism, sanctions, drones, cyber warfare, intelligence, and forced migration), actors (insurgents, social movements, and NGOs) and mechanisms (trilateral coercion, diplomatic and economic isolation, foreign-imposed regime change, coercion of nuclear proliferators, and two-level games) that have become more prominent in recent years, but which have yet to be extensively or systematically addressed in either academic or policy literatures.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Kelly M. Greenhill and Peter Krause Part I: Coercion: A Primer 1. Coercion: An Analytical Overview Robert J. Art and Kelly M. Greenhill 2. Intelligence and Coercion: A Neglected Connection Austin Long Part II: Coercion in an Asymmetric World 3. A Bargaining Theory of Coercion Todd S. Sechser 4. Airpower, Sanctions, Coercion and Containment: When Foreign Policy Objectives Collide Philip W. Haun 5. Step Aside or Face the Consequences: Explaining the Success and Failure of Compellent Threats to Remove Foreign Leaders Alexander B. Downes Part III: Coercion and Non-state Actors 6. Underestimating Weak States and State Sponsors: The Case for Base State Coercion Keren Fraiman 7. Coercion by Movement: How Power Drove the Success of the Eritrean Insurgency, 1960-1993 Peter Krause 8. Is Technology the Answer? The Limits of Combat Drones in Countering Insurgents James Igoe Walsh Part IV: Domains and Instruments Other than Force 9. Coercion through Cyberspace: The Stability-Instability Paradox Revisited Jon R. Lindsay and Erik Gartzke 10. Migration as a Coercive Weapon: New Evidence from the Middle East Kelly M. Greenhill 11. The Strategy of Coercive Isolation Timothy W. Crawford 12. Economic Sanctions in Theory and Practice: How Smart Are They? Daniel Drezner 13. Prices or Power Politics: When and Why States Coercively Compete over Resources Jonathan Markowitz Part V: Nuclear Coercion 14. Deliberate Escalation: Nuclear Strategies to Deter or to Stop Conventional Attacks Jasen J. Castillo 15. Threatening Proliferation: The Goldilocks Principle of Bargaining with Nuclear Latency Tristan Volpe Conclusion Kelly M. Greenhill and Peter Krause

About the Author :
Kelly M. Greenhill is Associate Professor and Director of International Relations at Tufts University and Research Fellow at Harvard University. She is author of Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion and Foreign Policy, winner of the 2011 International Studies Association Best Book of the Year Award, and numerous other books, articles and opinion pieces on international security and foreign policy. As a 2017 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, Greenhill is completing a new book on the influence of rumors, conspiracy theories, propaganda and other sources of "extra-factual information" in international politics. Peter Krause is an assistant professor of political science at Boston College and a Research Affiliate with the MIT Security Studies Program. He is the author of Rebel Power: Why National Movements Compete, Fight and Win (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2017) and has published articles on the threat of terrorism, modern territorial conquest, the effectiveness of political violence, U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war, and the war of ideas in the Middle East. Krause has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the Middle East over the past decade. He regularly offers his analysis of Middle East politics and political violence with national and local media. You can read more about Peter Krause and his research at peterjpkrause.com.

Review :
"Greenhill and Krause offer an important addition to the study of deterrence and compellence in international relations...This volume is an excellent addition to the study of coercion in international relations and offers new avenues for scholarly debate and research. Highly recommended." -CHOICE "Coercion is central to international politics and this collection does an excellent job of mapping the terrain both conceptually and empirically. Each essay is well done and the topics are well chosen. The volume will be of great benefit to all who study international security." -Robert Jervis, author of How Statesmen Think "This volume takes a fresh but focused look at coercion in our time. Together the chapters constitute a creative and economical (re-) introduction to an enduring tool of international, and sometimes domestic, politics." -Barry R. Posen, Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program, MIT "By far, this is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and wide-ranging treatment of the topic of coercion in international politics. Greenhill and Krause have produced a truly extraordinary volume containing a staggering array of exceptional chapters by key scholars in the field. A truly essential text for any student of global affairs." - Erica Chenoweth, Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver