Warning about War: Conflict, Persuasion and Foreign Policy

TY - BOOK

T1 - Warning about War

T2 - Conflict, Persuasion and Foreign Policy

AU - Meyer, Christoph O.

AU - de Franco, Chiara

AU - Otto, Florian

PY - 2019/8

Y1 - 2019/8

N2 - What does it take for warnings about violent conflict and war to be listened to, believed and acted upon? Why are some warnings by some sources noticed and largely accepted, while others are ignored or disbelieved? The answers matter directly to the feasibility of preventing mass atrocities or future harm to states’ economic and security interests. The theoretically sophisticated and empirically ambitious study challenges conventional accounts that tend to blame decision-makers’ lack of receptivity and political will. Instead, the authors offer a new theoretical framework to explain how a small number of factors shape distinct “paths of persuasion”, including conflict characteristics, political contexts, and source-recipient relations. The study is the first to systematically integrate persuasion attempts by analysts, diplomats and senior officials with those by journalists and NGO staff. The ambitious comparative design involves three states (US, the UK, Germany) and international organisations (UN, EU, OSCE) and looks in depth at four conflict cases: Rwanda 1994, Darfur 2003, Georgia 2008 and Ukraine 2014

AB - What does it take for warnings about violent conflict and war to be listened to, believed and acted upon? Why are some warnings by some sources noticed and largely accepted, while others are ignored or disbelieved? The answers matter directly to the feasibility of preventing mass atrocities or future harm to states’ economic and security interests. The theoretically sophisticated and empirically ambitious study challenges conventional accounts that tend to blame decision-makers’ lack of receptivity and political will. Instead, the authors offer a new theoretical framework to explain how a small number of factors shape distinct “paths of persuasion”, including conflict characteristics, political contexts, and source-recipient relations. The study is the first to systematically integrate persuasion attempts by analysts, diplomats and senior officials with those by journalists and NGO staff. The ambitious comparative design involves three states (US, the UK, Germany) and international organisations (UN, EU, OSCE) and looks in depth at four conflict cases: Rwanda 1994, Darfur 2003, Georgia 2008 and Ukraine 2014

KW - War

KW - Causes of war

KW - Conflict

KW - Foreign policy

KW - Conflict warning

KW - War Prevention

KW - International cooperation

UR - https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/warning-about-war-conflict-persuasion-and-foreign-policy?format=HB

U2 - 10.1017/9781108644006

DO - 10.1017/9781108644006

M3 - Book

SN - 9781108486071

BT - Warning about War

PB - Cambridge University Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -