Overview

An in-depth account of why countries' treacherous foreign policies often have harmless origins, how this predicament shapes international politics, and what to do about it.The increasing unpredictability of state behavior in recent world politics is a surprising development. The uncertainty that results intensifies conflict and stymies trust. In Volatile States in International Politics, Eleonora Mattiacci offers the first account of this issue that investigates which states have been volatile and why. Leveraging statistical techniques and archival data in a probing analysis of rivals and allies since the end of World War II, she rejects attempts at dismissing volatility as reflecting mercurial leaders or intractable issues. Instead, Mattiacci explains that a state acts in a volatile manner when its clashing domestic interests leverage power to achieve their goals on the international arena. In demonstrating states' potential for volatile behaviors, she asks us to reconsider how much we really know about change and instability in international politics. When properly understood, she shows, volatile behavior can become less confusing for observers and potentially less dangerous. This book offers novel, evidence-based tools to cope with volatility in the global arena.

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9780197638682

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Reviews

Scholars of international politics have tended to focus on the mean of foreign policies rather than the variance. In this innovative and important book, Mattiacci brings theoretical clarity and methodological firepower to the study of volatility in international politics, showing how changes in power and domestic competition combine to produce inconsistent shifts in foreign policy. A must-read for anyone interested in the turbulent era we live in. * Joshua D. Kertzer, Professor of Government, Harvard University * Some states settle into consistent patterns of conflict and cooperation. Others shift between those behaviors in unpredictable ways. By carefully measuring and rigorously explaining this variation, Eleonora Mattiacci's book provides fundamental insights about the sources of stability, change, and uncertainty in international politics. * Jeffrey A. Friedman, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College, and author of War and Chance: Assessing Uncertainty in International Politics * Eleonora Mattiacci's book seeks to understand why interstate relationships are at times more volatile, exhibiting high levels of conflict and cooperation. She shows that increases in relative power and domestic political polarization jointly create volatility in relationships between rival or allied states. Her careful analyses of volatility in 36 interstate rivalries and France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command reveal important insights about conflict dynamics and pathways that maintain peace. * Sara B. Mitchell, F. Wendell Miller Professor, University of Iowa * A deeper immersion in the extensive, current specialist literature on diplomacy, diplomatic thought and global security dilemmas would have made this book more informative, balanced and rewarding. But this caveat aside, Volatile States in International Politics, which is well written, organized, and cogently argued, remains a valuable introduction to one of the core concepts in international politics and is recommended to all scholars and senior students in the field. * Karl W. Schweizer, The European Legacy *

Scholars of international politics have tended to focus on the mean of foreign policies rather than the variance. In this innovative and important book, Mattiacci brings theoretical clarity and methodological firepower to the study of volatility in international politics, showing how changes in power and domestic competition combine to produce inconsistent shifts in foreign policy. A must-read for anyone interested in the turbulent era we live in. * Joshua D. Kertzer, Professor of Government, Harvard University * Some states settle into consistent patterns of conflict and cooperation. Others shift between those behaviors in unpredictable ways. By carefully measuring and rigorously explaining this variation, Eleonora Mattiacci's book provides fundamental insights about the sources of stability, change, and uncertainty in international politics. * Jeffrey A. Friedman, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College, and author of War and Chance: Assessing Uncertainty in International Politics * Eleonora Mattiacci's book seeks to understand why interstate relationships are at times more volatile, exhibiting high levels of conflict and cooperation. She shows that increases in relative power and domestic political polarization jointly create volatility in relationships between rival or allied states. Her careful analyses of volatility in 36 interstate rivalries and France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command reveal important insights about conflict dynamics and pathways that maintain peace. * Sara B. Mitchell, F. Wendell Miller Professor, University of Iowa *

Scholars of international politics have tended to focus on the mean of foreign policies rather than the variance. In this innovative and important book, Mattiacci brings theoretical clarity and methodological firepower to the study of volatility in international politics, showing how changes in power and domestic competition combine to produce inconsistent shifts in foreign policy. A must-read for anyone interested in the turbulent era we live in. -Joshua D. Kertzer, Professor of Government, Harvard University Some states settle into consistent patterns of conflict and cooperation. Others shift between those behaviors in unpredictable ways. By carefully measuring and rigorously explaining this variation, Eleonora Mattiacci's book provides fundamental insights about the sources of stability, change, and uncertainty in international politics. -Jeffrey A. Friedman, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College, and author of War and Chance: Assessing Uncertainty in International Politics Eleonora Mattiacci's book seeks to understand why interstate relationships are at times more volatile, exhibiting high levels of conflict and cooperation. She shows that increases in relative power and domestic political polarization jointly create volatility in relationships between rival or allied states. Her careful analyses of volatility in 36 interstate rivalries and France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military command reveal important insights about conflict dynamics and pathways that maintain peace. -Sara B. Mitchell, F. Wendell Miller Professor, University of Iowa

Author Information

Eleonora Mattiacci is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Amherst College, where she founded the IR Lab. She researches and publishes on international politics and focuses on the ways in which time and power shape actors' options on the international arena, particularly in the domain of conflict. Her research has been published on Perspective on Politics, International Studies Quarterly, and British Journal of International Politics, among other outlets. She holds a PhD from The Ohio State University.

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