CIAO DATE: 09/2014
Volume: 38, Issue: 4
Spring 2014
"The Lessons of 1914 for East Asia Today: Missing the Trees for the Forest" (PDF)
Todd Hall, Jia Ian Chong
The ubiquitous comparison drawn between pre–World War I Anglo-German antagonism and contemporary U.S.-China relations is flawed. Instead, the outbreak of war in 1914 offers specific lessons for contemporary East Asia concerning the dangers of complex security arrangements, nationalism, and repeated crises.
"Domestic Coalitions, Internationalization, and War: Then and Now" (PDF)
Etel Solingen
Recent commentary on World War I evokes similarities between Germany then and China now, but ahistorical analogies can mislead. An examination of both countries' governing coalitions shows that China is much more committed to the global economy and war averse than Germany was.
"Better Now Than Later: The Paradox of 1914 as Everyone's Favored Year for War" (PDF)
Jack Snyder
Why did all of the European continental great powers view 1914 as a favorable moment for war? An examination of this historical paradox reveals the limits of rationalist explanations and the bargaining theory of war.
"Dead Wrong? Battle Deaths, Military Medicine, and Exaggerated Reports of War's Demise" (PDF)
Tanisha M. Fazel
Recent scholarship points to a drop in battle deaths over the past several centuries and suggests that war is declining. Improved medical care, however, has made battle wounds more survivable. War has become less fatal, but not necessarily less frequent.
"Delegitimizing al-Qaida: Defeating an 'Army Whose Men Love Death'"
Jerry Mark Long, Alex S. WIlner
Al-Qaida has established a metanarrative that enables it to recruit militants and supporters. The United States and its allies can challenge its ability to do so by delegitimizing the ideological motivations that inform that metanarrative.
"Ethnofederalism: The Worst Form of Institutional Arrangement…?"
Liam Anderson
Critics of ethnofederalism— a political system in which federal subunits reflect ethnic groups’ territorial distribution—argue that it facilitates secession and state collapse. An examination of post-1945 ethnofederal states, however, shows that ethnofederalism has succeeded more often than not.