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Threat Construction and Coercive Credibility Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Danielle L. Lupton
How do actors issue credible threats during international crises? While scholarship has traditionally focused on how the context of threats influences credibility, this paper considers how the cons...
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Escaping Paralysis: Strategies for Countering Asymmetric Nuclear Escalation Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2024-02-21 Even Hellan Larsen
States armed with nuclear weapons are often hesitant to engage in low levels of conflict against rivals armed with nuclear weapons for fear of provoking a nuclear response. I refer to this conditio...
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Toward a Decolonial Cybersecurity: Interrogating the Racial-Epistemic Hierarchies That Constitute Cybersecurity Expertise Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Densua Mumford, James Shires
Beginning with a startling pattern of racialized practices in cybersecurity expert communities in the Gulf States, and drawing on the decolonial insights of the modernity/coloniality school, this a...
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Intergenerational Immobility: A Legacy of Racial Violence Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Adrian Arellano
What are the long-run consequences of racial violence on intergenerational mobility? Do its impacts extend to the broader community? Using newly available longitudinal data covering much of the US ...
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Three Approaches to the Study of Race and International Relations Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Adom Getachew
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 4-5, 2023)
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International Security and Black Politics: A Biographical Note Toward an Institutional Critique Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Robbie Shilliam
In this afterword, I claim that the distance that sets apart the study of black politics and international security is neither neutral nor natural but crafted through racism. Using the biography of...
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How Central is Race to International Relations? Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Jack Snyder
While I agree that it is high time for more research on the conceptual and empirical questions of race raised in this special issue, I argue that mainstream approaches including realism and liberal...
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Introducing the Special Issue on “Race and Security” Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Ronald R. Krebs
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 4-5, 2023)
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Buying Survival: Why Do Leaders Hire Mercenaries? Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-16 Leonardo Gentil-Fernandes, Kelly Morrison, Jacob Otto
Mercenaries play an increasingly important role in international and domestic security. Why do leaders hire mercenaries? We argue that leaders employ private military organizations is to guard agai...
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The Market for Foreign Bases Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-16 Renanah Miles Joyce, Brian Blankenship
Power projection is a central means by which states exert influence. Conventional wisdom holds that states pay more for foreign bases in the presence of third-party competitors, yet the mechanisms ...
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Is Multi-Method Research More Convincing Than Single-Method Research? An Analysis of International Relations Journal Articles, 1980–2018 Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-11-08 Anton Peez
While some social scientists see multi-method research (MMR) as a promising strategy for strong causal inference, others argue that it does little to strengthen the validity of research. This paper...
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The Bomb as God: A Metaphor that Impedes Nuclear Disarmament Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-10-02 Jacques E. C. Hymans
“Nuclear embeddedness” refers to a state’s persistent failure to reconsider its possession of a nuclear arsenal. The sedimentation of the metaphor of the Bomb as God in a state’s political culture ...
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Hawks Become Us: The Sense of Power and Militant Foreign Policy Attitudes Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-09-28 Caleb Pomeroy
How does power shape foreign policy attitudes? Drawing on advances in psychological research on power, I argue that the sense of relative state power explains foreign policy hawkishness. The intuit...
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Algorithmic Aversion? Experimental Evidence on the Elasticity of Public Attitudes to “Killer Robots” Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Ondřej Rosendorf, Michal Smetana, Marek Vranka
Lethal autonomous weapon systems present a prominent yet controversial military innovation. While previous studies have indicated that the deployment of “killer robots” would face considerable publ...
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Trivializing Terrorists: How Counterterrorism Knowledge Undermines Local Resistance to Terrorism Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-09-14 Sarah G. Phillips, Nadwa al-Dawsari
This article explores how counterterrorism knowledge practices affect the groups they study. We argue that these practices typically construct terrorist groups as ontologically stable and organizat...
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From ‘Butcher and Bolt’ to ‘Blugsplat’: Race, Counterinsurgency, and International Politics Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-09-13 Stacie E. Goddard, Paul K. MacDonald
Beginning in the early 2000s, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan revived interest among security studies scholars in counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare. Yet most studies of COIN in mainstream security ...
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Racial Hierarchy and Jurisdiction in U.S. Status of Forces Agreements Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-08-25 Bianca Freeman
Status of Forces Agreements (SOFAs) establish when and how the domestic laws of host governments are applied to American soldiers. Why does the United States share jurisdiction under some SOFAs but...
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Whose War is it Anyway? Explaining the Black-White Gap in Support for the Use of Force Abroad Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-19 Naima Green-Riley, Andrew Leber
Building on long-standing work on a “gender gap” in war support, this article documents a recurring “race gap” in which Black Americans display less enthusiasm for war than their White counterparts...
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Brazil’s Foreign Policy and Security under Lula and Bolsonaro: Hierarchy, Racialization, and Diplomacy Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-19 José O. Pérez
This article outlines how Brazil’s state actors carry out racialized diplomatic performances, which coexist alongside the oppression of Black, Indigenous, and mixed-race Brazilians, and at times ev...
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What Enables or Constrains Mass Expulsion? A New Decision-Making Framework Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-18 Meghan M. Garrity
Abstract Given similar probabilities of mass expulsion, why do some governments expel ethnic groups en masse and others refrain? Extending the genocide studies literature on the dynamics of restraint, this theory-building study introduces a new framework to conceptualize the process of governments’ mass expulsion policy decisions. The novel paired-comparison case study of Asian minorities in postcolonial
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The Disadvantage of Nuclear Superiority Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Abby Fanlo, Lauren Sukin
Abstract When crises occur between nuclear-armed states, do relative nuclear capabilities affect the outcome? The literature offers no consensus about nuclear superiority’s effect on crisis victory, but this article demonstrates that this effect depends on the size of the disparity between states’ nuclear arsenals. Although superiority is correlated with victory in crises between states with similarly
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Race and Racial Exclusion in Security Studies: A Survey of Scholars Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Kelebogile Zvobgo, Arturo C. Sotomayor, Maria Rost Rublee, Meredith Loken, George Karavas, Constance Duncombe
Increased attention to racialized knowledge and methodological whiteness has swept the political science discipline, especially international relations. Yet an important dimension of race and racis...
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Racism by Designation: Making Sense of Western States’ Nondesignation of White Supremacists as Terrorists Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-10 Zoltán I. Búzás, Anna A. Meier
How can we make sense of Western states’ nondesignation of white supremacists as terrorists compared to other actors engaged in similar political violence? This article offers three arguments and s...
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Volk Theory: Prejudice, Racism, and German Foreign Policy Before and Under Hitler Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Brian Rathbun, Nina Srinivasan Rathbun
Drawing on John Duckitt’s dual-process model of prejudice, we hypothesize that there are two primary types of racial prejudice, biological and symbolic-cultural, and that these are associated with ...
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Drones and Offensive Advantage: An Exchange – The Authors Reply Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Antonio Calcara, Andrea Gilli, Mauro Gilli, Ivan Zaccagnini
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2023)
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Tactical Myths and Perceptions of Reality Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Paul Lushenko, Sarah Kreps
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2023)
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Unscorable at 12: Technically Correct, but Misses the Mark Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-07-04 Jacquelyn Schneider
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 3, 2023)
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Political Polarization and Political Violence Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-06-29 James A. Piazza
Abstract Is political violence and support for political violence more prevalent in democratic societies with high levels of affective polarization? This study argues that affective partisan political polarization fosters dehumanization of opposing partisans, lends a moralistic and zero-sum nature to political life, and facilitates group mobilization. These all produce an environment in which political
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The Many Faces of Credibility: Hawks, Doves, and Nuclear Disarmament Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-06-29 Don Casler, David Ribar, Keren Yarhi-Milo
Abstract The conventional wisdom in international relations holds that an actor’s past record of keeping her word determines her cooperative credibility, and that mutual perceptions of credibility are essential in sustaining cooperation. Yet competing reputation-skeptic and psychological perspectives dispute this conventional wisdom, suggesting that assessments of cooperative credibility result from
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Rebels against Mines? Legitimacy and Restraint on Landmine Use in the Philippines Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 Henrique Garbino
Abstract Rebels have become the most prolific users of landmines but still display significant variation in how they employ and restrict the weapon’s use. This article argues that how rebels exercise restraint on landmine use depends on which audiences they rely on most. In a comparative case study of three Philippine rebel groups—the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf Group, and the New
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Wishful Strategies Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Tarak Barkawi
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Delineating Progressive Grand Strategies Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Daniel Bessner
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Stuck on the Left with You: The Limits of Partisanship in US Foreign Policy Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Emma Ashford
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Searching For Progressive Foreign Policy in Theory and in Practice Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Rachel Myrick
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Domestic Legitimacy and Progressive Grand Strategies in US Foreign Policy Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 C. William Walldorf Jr.
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Progressivism and Grand Strategy: An Exchange – The Author Replies Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Van Jackson
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 2, 2023)
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Perceptions of Leadership Importance: Evidence from the CIA’s President’s Daily Brief Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Michael A. Goldfien, Michael F. Joseph
Abstract Are leaders perceived as important actors during conflict, or are they discounted because of domestic institutions and international structure? We exploit recently declassified CIA President’s Daily Briefs to construct a cross-national, weekly measure of how intelligence analysts perceive foreign leader importance in conflict and diplomacy. We estimate perceptions of leader importance at crisis
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Military Regimes and Resistance to Nuclear Weapons Development Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-10 Lisa Langdon Koch
Abstract Few military regimes have seriously pursued a nuclear weapons capability, and only Pakistan has succeeded. I argue that military regimes governing nonnuclear weapons states are likely to prefer to invest in conventional rather than nuclear forces, even in the presence of external security threats. I identify two domestic sources of nuclear proliferation behavior in military regimes: the resource
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Fears of Revolution and International Cooperation:The Concert of Europe and the Transformation of European Politics Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-09 Chad E. Nelson
Abstract What explains the remarkable degree of great-power cooperation during the Concert of Europe? I focus on a period when there were regular congresses and argue that the transformation of the great powers’ respective domestic politics to where they had active revolutionary movements and feared upheavals at home played a key role in undergirding the transformation of European international politics
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Madman or Mad Genius? The International Benefits and Domestic Costs of the Madman Strategy Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-05-04 Joshua A. Schwartz
Abstract According to the “Madman Theory” outlined by Daniel Ellsberg and Thomas C. Schelling, and embraced by Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, being perceived as mad can help make seemingly incredible threats—such as starting a nuclear war—more credible. However, recent research has largely concluded that the Madman Theory does not work. In this study, I theorize that the international benefits
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The Nuclear Taboo and the Inevitability of Uncertainty Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Mark S. Bell
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2023)
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Birds of a Feather? Probing Cross-National Variation in Nuclear Inhibitions Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Målfrid Braut-Hegghammer
Abstract What are the causes of cross-national variation in nuclear hawkishness? In the third nuclear age such variation is likely to be more consequential than in the past. While such variation has been observed, it has not been explained. This article probes possible causes of such variation drawing on a new wave of research on nuclear inhibitions. Specifically, I explore how the threat environment
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Who Is Getting Nuked? Nuclear Taboo, Adversary Types, and Atomic Dispositions Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Yogesh Joshi
Abstract Janina Dill, Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino have demonstrated how calculations over the morality of contending norms may influence public's readiness to use nuclear weapons. I argue that such atomic dispositions are highly contingent on the nature of the adversary. Public may react differently to various nuclear targets because adversaries evoke different levels of retributiveness. When
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Thinking about What People Think about Nuclear Weapons Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Benoît Pelopidas, Kjølv Egeland
Abstract What do people really think about nuclear weapons? Responding to Dill, Sagan, and Valentino's “Kettles of Hawks” in Security Studies 31, we examine the inconsistency between different surveys of public attitudes toward nuclear weapons use. We maintain that different survey techniques tap into disparate layers of opinion—each of which is “real” in their own way and of analytical value depending
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Public Opinion and the Nuclear Taboo Across Nations: An Exchange – The Authors Reply Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-04-14 Janina Dill, Scott D. Sagan, Benjamin A. Valentino
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 32, No. 1, 2023)
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Conceptualizing Civil War Complexity Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Johan Brosché, Desirée Nilsson, Ralph Sundberg
Abstract Civil wars that appear to observers to be the most complex—even using a colloquial understanding of the concept—are also those that seem to register the most intense fighting, the most prolonged spells of war, and the most resistance to durable conflict resolution. But what does it really mean for a civil war to be complex? We currently lack a concept of “civil war complexity” that can help
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Social Origins of Modern Terrorism, 1860–1945 Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-02-28 Joshua Tschantret
Abstract Why did modern terrorism arise as a form of political violence? Scholars have located its origins in the mid-nineteenth century, a development that culminated in a global wave of terrorism and contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Despite consensus on its period of origin, we lack any explanation for why this development occurred. This article forwards a social theory for the origins
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How Peacekeepers Fight: Assessing Combat Effectiveness in United Nations Peace Operations Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2023-02-15 Paul D. Williams
Abstract Contrary to popular perceptions, United Nations (UN) peacekeepers engage in combat fairly frequently. A central challenge facing the UN is thus calibration between force and politics: ensuring the organization’s combat power is harnessed to viable political strategies for peace. However, the epistemic community on peacekeeping remains deeply divided between skeptics and proponents of “robust”
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Can Cyberattacks Reassure? Half Measures as a De-Escalation Strategy Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-27 Brandon K. Yoder
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Accommodative Signaling in Cyberspace and the Role of Risk Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-27 Fiona S. Cunningham
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Cyber Signaling: Deeper Case Research Tells a Different Story Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-27 Michael P. Fischerkeller
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Cyber Operations and Signaling: An Exchange – The Authors Reply Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-27 Erica D. Lonergan, Shawn W. Lonergan
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Blood Revenge in Civil War: Proof of Concept Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-22 Emil Aslan Souleimanov, David S. Siroky, Roberto Colombo
Abstract As an embedded sociocultural code, blood revenge is present in many societies where civil wars occur. Whereas evidence from other social sciences attests to its enduring global significance, security studies scholarship has largely neglected the custom of blood revenge. This article is the first to investigate its relevance for understanding the inception, dynamics, and aftermath of armed
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Will the Drone Always Get Through? Offensive Myths and Defensive Realities Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-21 Antonio Calcara, Andrea Gilli, Mauro Gilli, Ivan Zaccagnini
Abstract Do emerging and disruptive technologies yield an offensive advantage? This is a question of central theoretical and substantive relevance. For the most part, however, the literature on this topic has not investigated empirically whether such technologies make attacking easier than defending, but it has largely assumed that they do. At the same time, work on the offense–defense balance has
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Empathy, Risk-Taking, and Concession-Making: Gorbachev’s Bold Proposals at Reykjavik to End the US-Soviet Arms Race Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-21 Shahin Berenji
Abstract Why do decision makers undertake bold conciliatory gestures? It is puzzling why leaders accommodate their rivals in such a way when smaller, less risky avenues exist to initiate conciliation. To shed light on this question, I examine Mikhail Gorbachev’s decision to present an unprecedented package of arms control proposals at the Reykjavik summit. In one stroke, he made concessions to the
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Correction Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-16
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 5, 2022)
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Reassurance and Deterrence after Russia’s War against Ukraine Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-15 James Goldgeier, Lily Wojtowicz
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Tripwires and Alliance Reassurance: An Exchange – The Authors Reply Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-15 Brian Blankenship, Erik Lin-Greenberg
Published in Security Studies (Vol. 31, No. 4, 2022)
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Symbolic Amplification and Suboptimal Weapons Procurement: Explaining Turkey’s S-400 Program Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-08 Lisel Hintz, David E. Banks
Abstract Turkey’s 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile batteries is puzzling. Despite repeated threats of sanctions by the United States, North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Turkey purchased a multi-billion-dollar Russian air defense system that remains nonoperational, fails to cover Turkey’s air defense gap, and led to Turkey’s costly expulsion from the F-35 program. We argue unexpected domestic
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Naval Power, Merchant Fleets, and the Impact of Conflict on Trade Security Studies (IF 3.032) Pub Date : 2022-12-08 Nizan Feldman, Mark Shipton
Abstract Although commonly assumed to secure trade, the influence of both naval power and merchant fleets on combatants’ ability to secure trade has been rarely explored. Using the gravity model on a dataset spanning 1980–2011, this study shows that the damage conflict inflicts on states’ third-party trade declines as both their naval power and commercial fleet size increase. Beyond validating core