Delaying Doomsday

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupal N. Mehta
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Leadership Transition ◽  
Military Force ◽  
National Data ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Cross National

Why are states willing to give up their nuclear weapons programs? This book presents a new theory for how external inducements supplied by the United States can convince even the most committed of proliferators to abandon weapons pursuit. Existing theories focus either on carrots or sticks. I explore how using both positive and negative inducements, in the shadow of military force, can persuade both friends and foes not to continue their nuclear weapons pursuit. I draw on worldwide cross-national data on nuclear reversal, case studies of Iran and North Korea, among other countries, and interviews with diplomats, policy-makers, and analysts. I show that the majority of proliferators have been persuaded to reverse their nuclear weapons programs when offered incentives from the United States. Moreover, I demonstrate that these tools are especially effective during periods of leadership transition and can work on both allies and adversaries. My theory and evidence also suggest a broader conception of counterproliferation than currently exists, identifying how carrots and sticks used together can accomplish one of the international community’s most important policy objectives.

Coalition Stories: Cases from the Iraq Coalition

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Baum ◽  
Philip B. K. Potter
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Public Media ◽  
European Public ◽  
Key Variables

This chapter examines the decisions of the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, and Poland regarding whether they would join with the United States in the Iraq coalition, the goal of which was to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Among these countries, there was much variation in both key variables identified as the ingredients of constraint and in the extent to which leaders were responsive to pressure from either their domestic publics or the United States. The key lesson from these case studies is that democratic constraint is fragile and elusive. These cases point to a variety of means by which policy makers outmaneuvered a consistently antiwar European public. Media and partisan political opposition are clearly an important part of the overall story and, more significantly, are among the few factors that hold steady from case to case.

scholarly journals On Adapting Nuclear Deterrence to Reduce Nuclear Risk

Daedalus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Brad Roberts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Nuclear Deterrence ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Cold War

Since the end of the Cold War, changes to the practice of nuclear deterrence by the United States have been pursued as part of a comprehensive approach aimed at reducing nuclear risks. These changes have included steps to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons in U.S. defense and deterrence strategies. Looking to the future, the United States can do more, but only if the conditions are right. Policy-makers must avoid steps that have superficial appeal but would actually result in a net increase in nuclear risk. These include steps that make U.S. nuclear deterrence unreliable for the problems for which it remains relevant.

Considerations of the Obstacles and Opportunities to Formalizing Cross-National Policy Transfer to the United States: A Case Study of the Transfer of Urban Environmental and Planning Policies from Germany

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P Dolowitz ◽  
Dale Medearis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Transfer ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Us ◽  
Cross National ◽  
Planning Policies

Not enough has been written about the import, adaptation, and application of urban environmental and planning policies from abroad into the United States. Even less has been written about the voluntary cross-national transfer and application of environmental policies by American subnational actors and institutions. It is our intent to begin redressing this by discussing the transfer of urban environmental and planning policies from Germany to the United States during the early part of the 21st century. This discussion is informed by data drawn from governmental reports and planning statements and over thirty-five interviews with US urban environmental and planning practitioners operating in Germany and the United States. What we discover is that, unlike more rational models of policy transfer, the voluntary importation of environmental and planning policies into the US is seldom a problem-focused, goal-oriented process. Rather, what we find is that a better depiction of the transfer and adoption process is of a relatively anarchic situation. This appears to occur due to a range of institutional and cultural filters that predispose American policy makers against gathering (and using) information and experiences from abroad. We find that this filtering process tends to encourage policy makers to discount (or reject outright) the usefulness of overseas models and that, when they do engage in this process, any information gathered appears to be based less upon well-researched and analyzed data than embedded ‘tacit’ knowledge.

Does Taxation Lead to Representation?

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL L. ROSS
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Early Modern Europe ◽  
National Data ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pooled Time Series ◽  
Cross National

Does their need for greater tax revenue force governments to democratize? Most research on contemporary democratization says little about the effects of taxation. Yet there are good reasons to believe that taxation led to representation in the past: representative government first came about in early modern Europe when monarchs were compelled to relinquish some of their authority to parliamentary institutions, in exchange for the ability to raise new taxes; similarly, the war for independence in the United States began as a rebellion against British taxes. Some scholars argue that a comparable process is occurring today: the need to raise taxes forces authoritarian governments to democratize. These claims have never been carefully tested. In this article, the ‘taxation leads to representation’ argument is explored and tested using pooled time-series cross-national data from 113 countries between 1971 and 1997. One version of the argument appears to be valid, while another does not. These findings are important both for scholars who wish to understand the causes of democracy, and for policy makers who wish to promote it.

High Speed Rail

2016 ◽  
pp. 262-267
Author(s):  
Raj Selladurai ◽  
George VandeWerken
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
High Speed ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The World ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
The U.S

High-speed rail is gaining momentum worldwide in many countries in the world including the United States and especially in the state of California, Florida, and Texas currently. Focusing on the list of topics below would enable readers including professionals, policy-makers, leaders, staff, academicians, scholars, and students to explore assignments and research into innovative ideas, plans, and strategies related to high-speed rail in the U.S. The chapter presents a list of topics that includes case studies, research questions, projects, and other suggestions to stimulate further research and explore assignments into more optimal formulation and implementation of high-speed rail for the U.S. in the future.

Nuclear Terrorism: Why Deterrence Still Matters

2003 ◽  
Vol 102 (668) ◽  
pp. 426-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasen J. Castillo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Mass Destruction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Terrorist Organizations ◽  
Rogue States ◽  
Nuclear Terrorism ◽  
Conventional Methods

Although policy makers worry about the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, we should recognize that terrorist organizations have shown a remarkable tendency to fall back on well-tested conventional methods of attack. … Deterrence, when measured against prevention, still maintains enough credibility to prevent rogue states from sharing nuclear weapons with terrorists.

Where are the 'Good Samaritans'? Assessing Cross-National Support for Peacekeeping Operations

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 239-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alynna Lyon ◽  
Mary Fran Malone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Cross National

AbstractWhat leads a country's population to support or oppose peacekeeping operations? Are there cross-national diff erences in public support for peacekeeping? In this paper, we aim to answer these questions by examining public attitudes towards peacekeeping operations in the United States and ten European nations (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, Poland, Slovakia, and Turkey). is paper also assesses several explanations for cross-national variations in support for these missions. More specifi cally, we aim to determine whether theories of risk assessment, elite cues, and policy objectives can explain public support for peacekeeping cross-nationally.

Problems Facing Us Assistance for the Post-Soviet Republics

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-143
Author(s):  
Peter Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Assistance ◽  
International Consensus ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Assistance Programs ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Former Soviet Republics

AbstractSince 1989 American policy-makers have continually affirmed US support for the transition of the former Soviet republics from authoritarian, command economies to democratic, market economies. The United States will continue to aid the transition to protect its own political, economic and security interests. Professor Rex Wade's article offers reasonable advice for American officials faced with the difficult task of assisting this transition. Building upon his analysis, I shall elaborate on several of the most pressing problems facing American officials responsible for administering assistance programs. Three broad problems confront US policy-makers promoting markets and democratic political institutions in the former Soviet republics: 1) inadequate resources; 2) embattled foreign assistance institutions; and 3) the lack of international consensus about the goals and means for influencing the transition. Each of these issues has the potential to weaken American and international efforts to shape post-Communist society. In combination, they threaten the long-term foreign policy objectives of the United States.

Tempting Fate

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Avey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
The United States ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
The World ◽  
Chemical And Biological Weapons ◽  
Tempting Fate

Why would countries without nuclear weapons even think about fighting nuclear-armed opponents? A simple answer is that no one believes nuclear weapons will be used. But that answer fails to consider why nonnuclear state leaders would believe that in the first place. This book argues that the costs and benefits of using nuclear weapons create openings that weak nonnuclear actors can exploit. It uses four case studies to show the key strategies available to nonnuclear states: Iraqi decision-making under Saddam Hussein in confrontations with the United States; Egyptian leaders' thinking about the Israeli nuclear arsenal during wars in 1969–70 and 1973; Chinese confrontations with the United States in 1950, 1954, and 1958; and a dispute that never escalated to war, the Soviet–United States tensions between 1946 and 1948 that culminated in the Berlin Blockade. Those strategies include limiting the scope of the conflict, holding chemical and biological weapons in reserve, seeking outside support, and leveraging international non-use norms. Counterintuitively, conventionally weak nonnuclear states are better positioned to pursue these strategies than strong ones, so that wars are unlikely when the nonnuclear state is powerful relative to its nuclear opponent. The book demonstrates clearly that nuclear weapons cast a definite but limited shadow, and while the world continues to face various nuclear challenges, understanding conflict in nuclear monopoly will remain a pressing concern for analysts and policymakers.

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