The Shadow of the Past : : Reputation and Military Alliances before the First World War / / Gregory D. Miller.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Miller, Gregory D.,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2011]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Cornell Studies in Security Affairs
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (248 p.) :; 2 line drawings, 11 tables, 1 chart/graph

In The Shadow of the Past, Gregory D. Miller examines the role that reputation plays in international politics, emphasizing the importance of reliability-confidence that, based on past political actions, a country will make good on its promises-in the formation of military alliances. Challenging recent scholarship that focuses on the importance of credibility-a state's reputation for following through on its threats-Miller finds that reliable states have much greater freedom in forming alliances than those that invest resources in building military force but then use it inconsistently.To explore the formation and maintenance of alliances based on reputation, Miller draws on insights from both political science and business theory to track the evolution of great power relations before the First World War. He starts with the British decision to abandon "splendid isolation" in 1900 and examines three crises-the First Moroccan Crisis (1905-6), the Bosnia-Herzegovina Crisis (1908-9), and the Agadir Crisis (1911)-leading up to the war. He determines that states with a reputation for being a reliable ally have an easier time finding other reliable allies, and have greater autonomy within their alliances, than do states with a reputation for unreliability. Further, a history of reliability carries long-term benefits, as states tend not to lose allies even when their reputation declines.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Alliances and Reputation in International Relations -- 2. Reliability and Alliance Behavior -- 3. The End of Splendid Isolation: British Pursuit of an Ally, 1901-1905 -- 4. The First Moroccan Crisis: Testing the Anglo-French Entente, 1904-1907 -- 5. The Bosnia-Herzegovina Crisis: Expanding the Entente, 1907-1911 -- 6. The Agadir Crisis: Rolling toward War, 1910-1914 -- 7. Summary and Expansion of Findings -- Appendixes -- Index