POLI 304 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Bandwagoning, Stephen Walt, Walter Lippmann
28 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
In this chapter, walt proposes five general explanations for international alliances: balancing, bandwagoning, ideology, foreign aid, and transnational penetration. He explores the logic of the various hypotheses, presents illustrative examples, and outline the conditions under which the behavior predicted by each should be expected: alliances as a response to threat: balancing and bandwagoning (17-33) When confronted by a significant threat, states may either balance or bandwagon: balancing is defined as allying with others against the prevailing threat. H1: balancing is more common than bandwagoning. If this is true, states are more secure because aggressors will face combined opposition: bandwagoning refers to alignment with the source of danger. H2: bandwagoning is more common than balancing. If this is true, security is scarce because successful aggressors will attract additional allies, enhancing their power while reducing that of their opponents. These are two distinct hypotheses about how states will select their alliance partners: balancing behavior.
