I liked your comment because it is the kind of rational analysis and weighing of alternatives that ought to animate behaviour. Basically it is that states will weigh and bow to the balance of power, recognizing competitive advantage and disadvantage. Which is a version of Thucydides' observation that the strong do what they can and the w…
I liked your comment because it is the kind of rational analysis and weighing of alternatives that ought to animate behaviour. Basically it is that states will weigh and bow to the balance of power, recognizing competitive advantage and disadvantage. Which is a version of Thucydides' observation that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must (or something like that). My only reservation is that after decades spent in hearing rooms listening to accounts of irrational and dysfunctional and self destructive behaviour, I am perhaps less sanguine that you are about the inevitable triumph of such rational calculation. Especially if the protagonists are nuclear-armed and the time for analysis is compressed. I ponder the alternative scenarios in the Cuban missile crisis, for example.
I liked your comment because it is the kind of rational analysis and weighing of alternatives that ought to animate behaviour. Basically it is that states will weigh and bow to the balance of power, recognizing competitive advantage and disadvantage. Which is a version of Thucydides' observation that the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must (or something like that). My only reservation is that after decades spent in hearing rooms listening to accounts of irrational and dysfunctional and self destructive behaviour, I am perhaps less sanguine that you are about the inevitable triumph of such rational calculation. Especially if the protagonists are nuclear-armed and the time for analysis is compressed. I ponder the alternative scenarios in the Cuban missile crisis, for example.