Skip to Main Content

Fuses, Chains, and Backlashes: China, the United States, and the Dynamics of Conflict Contagion and Escalation

Online ISBN:
9780197812907
Print ISBN:
9780197812860
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Fuses, Chains, and Backlashes: China, the United States, and the Dynamics of Conflict Contagion and Escalation

Published online:
21 April 2025
Published in print:
23 June 2025
Online ISBN:
9780197812907
Print ISBN:
9780197812860
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Fuses, Chains, and Backlashes analyzes the reasons some local, bilateral conflicts escalate and spread to become large, intense, and multilateral wars. This book investigates the processes that lead to huge, albeit rare, conflagrations such as World War I. It stresses equifinality, historical contingency, and conjunctive reasoning to explain the dynamics of conflict escalation and contagion such as for this paradigmatic case. General patterns from past conflicts stemming from enduring rivalries are drawn to inform the danger of a war that can ensnare China and the United States over Taiwan. Thus, this book embeds the study of Sino–American relations in a historical and comparative context informed by the cumulative evidence from international relations scholarship (both quantitative pattern analyses and qualitative case studies) rather than treating this pair as sui generis.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close