POLS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 27: Cuban Missile Crisis, Mutual Assured Destruction, Nuclear Technology

• School: UTK
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 102
• Professor: William Jennings

Document Summary

Note: class is canceled wednesday, november 25th: balance of power. International relations part 3: main idea of realism, countries constantly try to balance the power of the world"s largest military/economic power (hegemon) b. i. Lady justice balanced scales: balance out military power = reduce the likelihood of military conflict c. i. Clear norms in the bureaucracy or military can sometimes encourage rational decision making c. ii. Military leaders may fudge on the time necessary to mobilize their forces if they think rationality needs more time to work: rationality doesn"t have to be involved in every decision d. i. Why democracies use brutal tactics early on want the war to end early d. ii. End early before public opinion turns against them e. Images can also be manipulated to prevent the public from seeing body bags, carnage, etc: nuclear weapons, ultimate form to create balance of power, make you think through conflict with countries that have nuclear weapons. Realized after cuban missile crisis of 1962 c. iii.