Coercion: The Power to Hurt in International Politics

by Kelly M. Greenhill (Editor)

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.

384 pages, Paperback

Published January 25, 2018

Reviews

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75-4/5: A very well edited work that covers a good deal of continuity and change of coercion through the ages--although, it does focus on its recent use. The edition is worth it alone on account of the analytical overview by Art and Greenhill, how having more power can create a barrier between the powerful and success of coercion from Sechser, and similarly Haun's chapter on how coercion and containment can work crosswise with each other. The Walsh chapter on drones was extremely disappointing--the conflation of insurgency with to which every form of political violence in which unmanned aircraft is applied is a trope that has surpassed its usefulness in security studies. But, despite that brief low point, one high point is Greenhill chapter on migration as a tool of coercion and Crawford's chapter on diplomatic isolation. One indirectly considered problem in the conclusion was that the tools and effectiveness of coercion have a different logic than their policy effectiveness. The brief paragraph leaves open a hole in an otherwise exceptional (again, save Walsh) work; and the manifold basis for what the new and old tools of coercion sit on the escalation ladder on the way to brute force (or complete destruction and disaster), and how the strategic point of coercion is policy's purpose--which gets at achieving some kind of advantage between states and/or non-state groups. Highly recommend.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coercion: The Power to Hurt in International Politics is a collection of scholarly essays on different aspects of coercion, and runs the gamut from cyber to economics to oil, from threats and nuclear weapons to sanctions. Some essays are better than others, but the overall intent is to make sure that most of the ways in which coercion is talked about has someone writing about it. The book is a little old, and this is reflected in some of the essays. Some literatures that were nascent when the book came out are now mature and a fair few things have changed. Others which seemed like they would be important have fallen by the way side. Still, this is a pretty accessible tomb for graduate students in the field of international security and for early career academics. Not for general consumption though.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchased this book for a few specific chapters, as often happens with edited volumes. The introduction, and Greenhill's chapter on Coercive Engineered Migration are fantastic.