Construct · 1 fields · 1 citations

brinkmanship: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · strategy Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
brinkmanship1 CONSTRUCTBrinkmanshipSCHELLING · 1960

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Strategy / international relations

Edging toward shared catastrophe to make a rival back down

Brinkmanship is the strategy of deliberately raising the shared risk of a disaster that would harm both sides, in order to pressure an opponent into conceding before the situation slips out of control. Schelling's 1960 The strategy of conflict analyzed it as the “manipulation of risk” and the “threat that leaves something to chance”: because a party cannot credibly promise to choose mutual ruin outright, it instead relinquishes some control and lets the danger of accidental escalation do the coercing. The referent is a coercive bargaining tactic built on credibility and the gradual, probabilistic approach to a cliff edge, a staple of deterrence theory rather than a formal solution concept.[1]

Unit
The level of mutual catastrophe risk a party is willing to court
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Analyzed through the credibility of risk-generating commitments and the autonomous probability of escalation they create

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Nearby constructs

accidental2 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, two constructsbargaining1 fields · 2 citationsanchor · game theorychance4 fields · 6 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Schelling, T. C. (1960). The strategy of conflict. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674840317

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