This roundtable discusses “Crisis Diplomacy and War: Lessons for World Politics”, an in-progress book manuscript authored by Andrew P. Owsiak and John A. Vasquez. The book compares eight crises that go to war (e.g., the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Russo-Japanese War, July 1914, and Pearl Harbor) with eight that do not (e.g., the 1839 Eastern Crisis, the Agadir Crisis, the 1908 Bosnian Crisis, 1938 Munich, and the Cold Wars). The purpose is not only to understand the common factors that facilitate or impede crisis escalation, but also to derive diplomatic guidance from those factors. In each case’s chapter, the authors explore what the case says about why leaders’ decisions led to or avoided war. Case analysis also incorporates counterfactual reasoning. If a case escalated to war, could leaders have avoided war, and how? If a case did not escalate to war, how could have led to war and what alternative decisions might have produced escalation instead? Finally, the authors draw lessons for the practice of diplomacy and implications for international relations theory.
The panel will broadly discuss (i) the logic of the manuscript’s research design, (ii) the analysis of specific cases, and (iii) and the appropriate-ness of the lessons derived. Towards this end, each panelist will provide detailed comments on 2-3 of the book’s working chapters, as well as any general criticisms and suggestions across the entirety of the book’s content. Please note that the manuscript’s authors will not formally present the book content, but rather introduce the book project with some brief comments, before inviting feedback from the panelists. The authors will, however, circulate the book manuscript in advance of the workshop, including to any audience members who request it so that they will have a chance to review the work and to contribute to the workshop discussion if they so choose.
Speakers:
TV Paul, James McGill Professor of Political Science, McGill University
Andrew Owsiak, Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor & Professor of International Affairs, University of Georgia
John Vasquez, Thomas B. Mackie Scholar & Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois
Jack Levy, Board of Governors Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University
Sara Mitchell F. Wendell Miller Professor of Political Science, University of Iowa
William Mulligan, Professor, Head of School of History, University College Dublin
Emilia Justyna Powell, Professor of Political Science & Concurrent Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame
William Thompson, Distinguished and Rogers Professor Emeritus, Indiana University