Moving Beyond Pathology: Why Psychologists Should Care About Short Wars

Keywords

Bargaining; Behavioral international relations; Commitment problems; Learning; Political psychology; War duration

Abstract

Like most of the rationalist literature on war duration, the psychological literature focuses on state leaders’ decisions to continue or end wars. A great deal of emphasis has been placed, however, on a small subset of decisions—the apparently pathological ones where leaders continue fighting beyond the point when a putatively rational leader would have terminated the war. While this has led to important insights, it has also limited the reach and influence of psychological analyses of war duration. Rather than assuming that shorter wars reflect rational decision making, scholars should investigate how psychological theories might help to explain short wars. Psychological arguments that have already been applied in international relations, such as those concerning emotion, individual traits, and cognition, are likely to provide promising lines of inquiry.

Publication Date

4-1-2018

Publication Title

Polity

Volume

50

Issue

2

Number of Pages

201-214

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1086/696289

Socpus ID

85043502415 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85043502415

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