Abstract
This book proposes a theoretical framework examining the interaction of grand strategies of weak states and great powers within an international system of anarchy. Grand strategies can be thought of as overall survival strategies of states. All states have grand strategies as all seek or function to survive as independent political units. Great powers seek survival against other great powers seeking to undermine their power, position, and prestige. This will be understood using psychoanalysis, determining prestige behavior as psychotic and destructive. Weak states suffer from systemic vulnerabilities and trade whatever political power they have to a great power for aid or other types of economic assistance. If enough weak states support a particular great power, then that great power will become more powerful over time relative to competitors. This forms an international system fashioned by these transactions.
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Notes
- 1.
Hence the neo for an altered conceptual vision.
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Kassab, H.S. (2018). Introduction. In: Grand Strategies of Weak States and Great Powers. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70404-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70404-3_1
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