Deadly Imbalances: Tripolarity and Hitler's Strategy of World Conquest

by Randall L. Schweller

Scholars frequently portray World War II as an epic morality play driven by a villain (Hitler) and a sinner (Chamberlain). This book offers a fresh approach, combining both the attributes of states and the structure of the international system to explain the origins and causes of World War II. Central to the analysis is the argument that the structure of the international system was tripolar - with Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States as the three central powers - and not multipolar and that this needs to be considered in any examination of the antecedent causes and crucial events of the war.

Genres: International Relations, Political Science

267 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1998

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 4 out of 5]

amazon review

A great academic job

Prof. Schweller deserves all the compliments that he might get. Deadly Imbalances is a real masterpiece, poisedly merging theoretical discussion with an accurate applied analysis on an empirical case (World War II).

The author's modeling departs from Waltz's neorealism, but the structural perspective is soon amended, with the inclusion of one variable that is strictly on the unit level (the state's interest).

This modification approximates his scheme to classical realism, with great gains to ad hoc analysis, like the one he does. Important to say that the historical research is very good too, remarkable in a study done by a political scientist.

This book should be considered a good and commendable example of case study in the International Relations area.

Vagner Camilo Alves, Brazil

[Ali Nazifpour · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, as a non-realist, one of the most intriguing and convincing realist accounts of international relations, a commendable attempt at a structural analysis without losing sight of nuance and complex factors. That said, I think the book goes so far into the direction of trying to avoid reductionism in categorization that basically makes a confusing and overlapping categorization which is barely a step above just describing individual states, and yet it's still reductionist when it comes to how states behave (e.g. a lion doesn't always act defensively and conservatively). That said, top-notch and thoughtful theory which was very interesting to see applied to WWII too.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best effort, but good.