- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

International Security

Fall/Winter 2015-2016

Blood Revenge and Violent Mobilization: Evidence from the Chechen Wars

Emil Aslan Souleimanov and Huseyn Aliyev

Blood revenge is a crucial yet understudied contributor to many insurgencies and civil wars. Interviews with participants in and witnesses to the First and Second Chechen Wars reveal how a desire to avenge dead or injured relatives drove many Chechens to join insurgent groups.

 

How Realism Waltzed Off: Liberalism and Decisionmaking in Kenneth Waltz’s Neorealism

Daniel Bessner and Nicolas Guilhot

In developing neorealist theory, Kenneth Waltz sought to reconcile the tenets of classical realism with those of liberal democracy. Classical realists called for foreign policy to be forged by elite decisionmakers, unconstrained by legal norms and public opinion. Waltz, by contrast, argued that the international system, rather than individual decisionmakers, shaped international relations.

 

Assuring Assured Retaliation: China’s Nuclear Posture and U.S.-China Strategic Stability

Fiona S. Cunningham and M. Taylor Fravel

Many analysts worry that recent advances in U.S. military capabilities could cause China to abandon its nuclear strategy of assured retaliation and its no-first-use doctrine. The writings and statements of Chinese nuclear experts, however, suggest that such fears are misplaced.

 

Balancing in Neorealism

Joseph M. Parent and Sebastian Rosato

Do great powers balance against each other, as neorealist theory predicts? Over the past two centuries, great powers have typically avoided external balancing via alliance formation, but they have consistently engaged in internal balancing by arming and imitating the military advances of their rivals.

 

Indignation, Ideologies, and Armed Mobilization: Civil War in Italy, 1943–45

Stefano Costalli and Andrea Ruggeri

Most explanations of why individuals fight in civil wars have focused on material factors, such as expected political or economic benefits.  The history of the internal war that broke out in Italy during the final stages of World War II, however, shows that emotions and ideas—specifically, indignation and radical ideologies—can also fuel armed mobilization.

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: International Security.” Belfer Center Newsletter (Fall/Winter 2015-2016).