Overview
Does nationalism lead to interstate war? This book challenges the existing presumption that nationalism causes war and systematically investigates how popular nationalism affects a country's decision to launch military aggression. In doing so, the book makes a provocative and novel claim that popular nationalism has both a conflict-inducing and a restraining effect and identifies the conditions under which popular nationalism triggers interstate violence. Specifically, the book asserts that popular nationalism leads to war only when leaders who confront popular nationalism are very confident about their chance of achieving complete victory in conflict or they are politically vulnerable. In the absence of these two conditions, popular nationalism has a restraining effect, pushing leaders toward seeking the status quo and avoiding the use of force. The book first demonstrates the restraining effect of popular nationalism through a survey experiment conducted in China and an in-depth case study on the territorial dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea. It then offers a comprehensive historical and contemporary analysis of when popular nationalism's restraining effect turns into a conflict-inducing one through case studies on the War of 1812 and the Falklands War. The book provides important insights into whether popular nationalism could put great powers like the United States and China on a collision course, as well as broad policy implications for preventing war driven by popular nationalism--
- | Author: Kagan
- | Publisher: Oxford University Press
- | Publication Date: Aug 22, 2023
- | Number of Pages: 280 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Paperback
- | ISBN-10: 0197684572
- | ISBN-13: 9780197684573
