Alliances; Nuclear Weapons and Escalation, Managing Deterrence in the 21st Century

Year

2021

Publisher

ANU Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-1-76046-490-5

Link

Last Update

03-Feb-2026

Keywords

Peace & Conflict Studies ; security-studies-discipline ; International Relations

Description

As great power competition once again assumes a central place in international relations, alliances have taken on renewed importance in the security calculations of Australia and other US allies in the Indo-Pacific and Europe. Deterrence of an attack on allies is a core function of US alliances, as are mechanisms through which states seek to manage the risk of escalation—the movement through increasing intensity of conflict up to, in the extreme, global nuclear war.¹ Alliances seek to prevent escalation in the form of an attack on its members through strategies of deterrence and extended deterrence that are themselves predicated...