POLI 360 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Pearl Harbor, Government Of Argentina, Status Quo

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 360
• Professor: T.V.Paul

Document Summary

Asymmetric conflict: deterrent issues bc of the nature of asymmetric conflicts we need to pay attention to the concepts to understand why a weaker state would start conflict. General deterrence: the threat of force is implied with prospect of retaliation (according to. Mearshiemer and co. : domestic power structures are changing, which in turn affects war dynamics. For example, if the success of war depends on timing and the leaders understand the situation as success will happen now or never then the probability of it attacking first is higher. Usually the weaker state assumes a strategy of limited aims, which assumed that war will be a success for them bc they can capture something of value without completely defeating the opponent. In a sense you can (cid:513)lose(cid:514), but still end up achieving your goal bc it is limited: limited aims strategy relies on the element of surprise bc even strong states can be caught by surprise and be hurt.