1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787070003321

Autore

Weeks Jessica L. P.

Titolo

Dictators at war and peace / / Jessica L. P. Weeks

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Ithaca, New York : , : Cornell University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-8014-5523-5

1-336-20820-1

0-8014-5524-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (264 p.)

Collana

Cornell Studies in Security Affairs

Classificazione

MK 3100

Disciplina

321.9092/2

Soggetti

Dictators

Authoritarianism

Military policy - Decision making

Politics and war

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Tables And Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Authoritarian Regimes And The Domestic Politics Of War And Peace -- 2. Initiating International Conflict -- 3. Winners, Losers, And Survival -- 4. Personalist Dictators: Shooting From The Hip -- 5. Juntas: Using The Only Language They Understand -- 6. Machines: Looking Before They Leap -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Why do some autocratic leaders pursue aggressive or expansionist foreign policies, while others are much more cautious in their use of military force? The first book to focus systematically on the foreign policy of different types of authoritarian regimes, Dictators at War and Peace breaks new ground in our understanding of the international behavior of dictators. Jessica L. P. Weeks explains why certain kinds of regimes are less likely to resort to war than others, why some are more likely to win the wars they start, and why some authoritarian leaders face domestic punishment for foreign policy failures whereas others can weather all but the most serious military defeat. Using novel cross-national data, Weeks looks at various nondemocratic regimes, including



those of Saddam Hussein and Joseph Stalin; the Argentine junta at the time of the Falklands War, the military government in Japan before and during World War II, and the North Vietnamese communist regime. She finds that the differences in the conflict behavior of distinct kinds of autocracies are as great as those between democracies and dictatorships. Indeed, some types of autocracies are no more belligerent or reckless than democracies, casting doubt on the common view that democracies are more selective about war than autocracies.