Worse than a monolith : alliance politics and problems of coercive diplomacy in Asia

Bibliographic Information

Worse than a monolith : alliance politics and problems of coercive diplomacy in Asia

Thomas J. Christensen

(Princeton studies in international history and politics)

Princeton University Press, c2011

  • : pbk
  • : hardcover

Available at  / 19 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 277-295) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In brute-force struggles for survival, such as the two World Wars, disorganization and divisions within an enemy alliance are to one's own advantage. However, most international security politics involve coercive diplomacy and negotiations short of all-out war. "Worse Than a Monolith" demonstrates that when states are engaged in coercive diplomacy - combining threats and assurances to influence the behavior of real or potential adversaries - divisions, rivalries, and lack of coordination within the opposing camp often make it more difficult to prevent the onset of conflict, to prevent existing conflicts from escalating, and to negotiate the end to those conflicts promptly. Focusing on relations between the Communist and anti-Communist alliances in Asia during the Cold War, Thomas Christensen explores how internal divisions and lack of cohesion in the two alliances complicated and undercut coercive diplomacy by sending confusing signals about strength, resolve, and intent. In the case of the Communist camp, internal mistrust and rivalries catalyzed the movement's aggressiveness in ways that we would not have expected from a more cohesive movement under Moscow's clear control. Reviewing newly available archival material, Christensen examines the instability in relations across the Asian Cold War divide, and sheds new light on the Korean and Vietnam wars. While recognizing clear differences between the Cold War and post-Cold War environments, he investigates how efforts to adjust burden-sharing roles among the United States and its Asian security partners have complicated U.S.-China security relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Growing Pains: Alliance Formation and the Road to Conflict in Korea 28 Chapter 3 Alliance Problems, Signaling, and Escalation of Asian Conflict 63 Chapter 4 The Benefits of Communist Alliance Coordination and the Continuing Costs of U.S. Alliance Formation, 1951-56 109 Chapter 5 The Sino-Soviet Split and Problems for the United States in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, 1956-64 146 Chapter 6 From Escalation in Vietnam to Sino-American Rapprochement, 1964-72 181 Chapter 7 The Fall and Revival of Coercive Diplomacy: Security Partnerships and Sino-American Security Relations, 1972-2009 221 Chapter 8 Conclusion 260 Bibliography 277 Index 297

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