This article aims to examine the importance of an often overlooked argument when it comes to explaining why great powers go to war against a weaker actor. This argument involves great power status considerations. The article argues that states care deeply about their status, especially states which are current and former great powers, and would opt to go to war to preserve this status even if the political and military consequences of such intervention are negligible to objective observers. To illustrate this argument, I will be looking at why the British decided to reestablish their sovereignty over the Falklands in 1982. The empirical part of the analysis is based on formerly secret documents declassified by the British government. This qualitative primary analysis of British documents provides new insights about the crisis and suggests that status considerations played a large role in the British decision to re-conquer the Falklands.

中文翻译：

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维护“大国地位”：英国干预福克兰群岛的复杂案例（1982年）

本文旨在探讨在解释大国为何与较弱的参与者交战时经常被忽略的争论的重要性。该论点涉及很大的电源状态考虑因素。文章认为，国家非常关心自己的地位，特别是现任和前任大国的国家，即使客观干预者的政治和军事后果可以忽略，他们仍会选择战争来维持这种地位。为了说明这一论点，我将研究为什么英国于1982年决定重新建立对福克兰群岛的主权。分析的经验部分是基于英国政府解密的先前秘密文件。