Alexander Lanoszka
Biographic Data
| ID | 2371934 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alexander Lanoszka |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alexander |
| FAMILY NAME | Lanoszka |
| SIGNATURE | LANOSZKA A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Waterloo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6812-3873 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 128 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
China-Russia Strategic Alignment in International Politics
Unconventional airpower: How non-state actors used aerial drone capabilities
Winning Hearts and Minds? How the United States Reassured During the Russo-Ukrainian War
Decades of scholarship hold that great powers shore up global confidence during crises with strong demonstrations of resolve. A much smaller literature critiques these assumptions, suggesting that restraint may strengthen confidence. When and why do restraint or resolve reassure, and for whom? In light of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we appraise early U.S. attempts to reassure allies and partners using public opinion surveys in 2…
Non-aggression pacts: Context and Explanation
The existing literature offers contrasting views on the causes and effects of non-aggression pacts. Some scholars contend that these agreements impose audience costs that prevent an ongoing rivalry from escalating to war. Others claim that states use non-aggression pacts to signal to others that their rivalry is over and that their future relations will be peaceful. Scholars disagree as to the impact non-aggression pacts have on violent conflict.…
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Accounting for the Domestic alongside the International
An old debate on the value of systemic explanations of international relations (IR) reemerged in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both scholars and popular media have spent much oxygen and ink debating arguments that assign causal primacy to NATO expansion, status reclamation, spheres of influence, dissatisfaction, or multipolarity. However, understanding conflict onset and duration requires consideration of both domestic and …
Reclaiming what is ours: Elite continuity and revanchism
What explains the revanchism of (post-)imperial states? This question has renewed salience amid Russia’s expanded war against Ukraine in 2022. In this article, we conceptualise revanchism as a foreign policy preference that involves reclaiming territory once controlled. We also advance a new explanation for revanchism that emphasises elite continuity in those states that experience territorial loss. Elite continuity matters because the ruling pol…
Credibility in Crises: How Patrons Reassure Their Allies
s How do citizens of US allies assess different reassurance strategies? This article investigates the effects of US reassurance policies on public opinion in allied states. We design and conduct a survey experiment in five Central–Eastern European states—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania—in March 2022. Set against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this experiment asked respondents to evaluate four types of reassurance st…
Introduction to Forum
The art of partial commitment: The politics of military assistance to Ukraine
What sort of military assistance has Ukraine received to date from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members since 2014? What has driven NATO allies' decisions to provide military assistance to Ukraine? This essay addresses both questions. It offers a preliminary examination of how strategic, economic, and risk considerations might have shaped NATO members' decisions regarding arms transfers to Ukraine, a country that remains outside of t…
Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century
Russia’s rising military and communication power: From Chechnya to Crimea
Most scholars working on Russia’s use of strategic narratives recognize the importance of the Russian state. Nevertheless, the authors argue that much of the attention on strategic narratives has given insufficient appreciation for how Russia has developed its military and media policies in a coordinated manner: learning from its mistakes and failures as it went along, and becoming more efficient each time. In making their case, they examine thre…
A Military Drawdown in Germany? US Force Posture in Europe from Trump to Biden
The Biden administration has promised to revitalize a transatlantic alliance that has experienced much strain during Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump’s focus on strategic competition with China, eq
Nodal defence: The changing structure of U.S. alliance systems in Europe and East Asia
Scholars and pundits alike continue to portray the U.S.-led regional alliance systems in Europe and East Asia in stark, dichotomous terms. Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the standard model of multilateralism, the U.S.-led system of bilateral alliances in East Asia is the archetypal ‘hub-and-spokes’ structure in which different allies (the spokes) enjoy deep bilateral strategic ties with Washington (the hub) but not with each ot…
Thank goodness for Nato enlargement
Poland in a time of geopolitical flux
President Donald Trump has provoked U.S. allies into reevaluating their own national strategies and position within the international order that the United States purportedly fashioned and has sustained since 1945. This essay looks at Poland. Like other treaty allies such as Germany and Japan, Poland has maintained – even deepened – its security relationship with the United States in order to manage Trump. What distinguishes Poland, however, is t…
Disinformation in international politics
Concerns over disinformation have intensified in recent years. Policymakers, pundits, and observers worry that countries like Russia are spreading false narratives and disseminating rumours in order to shape international opinion and, by extension, government policies to their liking. Despite the importance of this topic, mainstream theories in International Relations offer contradictory guidance on how to think about disinformation. I argue that…
Disinformation in international politics - Addendum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Nuclear Proliferation and Nonproliferation among Soviet Allies
Most alliance-related explanations of nuclear proliferation and nonproliferation draw from US security relationships. Yet, the Soviet Union, too, exhibited variation in proliferation tendencies within its own system of alliances. Only one Warsaw Pact member—Romania—was interested in seeking nuclear weapons, whereas both of its East Asian allies—China and North Korea—pursued nuclear weapons. What explains this pattern of nuclear proliferation and …
Alliances and Nuclear Proliferation in the Trump Era
The danger of U.S. allies wanting their own nuclear weapons appears to have intensified since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016. During the election campaign, Trump co
Arms, Alliances, and Patron-Client Relationships
In “To Arm or to Ally?” Keren Yarhi-Milo, Alexander Lanoszka, and Zack Cooper present an elegant and powerful theory that explains conditions under which a great power (in their case, the United States) offers a client state arms, an alliance commitment, or both.1 Their article does not give due attention, however, to what motivates a patron to provide security assistance to clients in the first place—especially its desire to influence its client…
The Belarus Factor in European Security
This article challenges strategists to reconsider longheld assumptions associated with the alliance between Belarus and Russia when planning military support for the Baltic states
Tangled up in rose? Theories of alliance entrapment and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War
Recent tensions between Russia and the United States have sparked debate over the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). One controversy surrounds the extent to which NATO raises the risk of war through entrapment—a concept that scholars invoke to describe how states might drag their allies into undesirable military conflicts. Yet scholars have advanced different, even conflicting arguments about how entrapment risks arise. I off…
From Ottawa to Riga: Three tensions in Canadian defence policy
In June 2016, Canada joined the United States, Great Britain, and Germany in becoming a Framework Nation that leads a multinational battalion-sized battlegroup in Latvia. Canada thus appears to be reprising the role it played during the Cold War as a leading participant in North Atlantic Treaty Organization deterrence and reassurance initiatives in Europe. Yet the three tensions that made Canada reduce its military commitments to allies over the …
To Arm or to Ally? The Patron's Dilemma and the Strategic Logic of Arms Transfers and Alliances
How do great powers decide whether to provide arms to or form alliances with client states? This “patron's dilemma” revolves around a decision about how to best provide security to clients without becoming entrapped in unwanted conflicts. Strong commitments worsen the risk of entrapment, whereas weak commitments intensify fears of abandonment. This traditional alliance dilemma can be addressed through the provision of arms and alliances. Great po…
Russian hybrid warfare and extended deterrence in eastern Europe
Russia's use of force against Ukraine since early 2014 has prompted some observers to remark that it is engaging in ‘hybrid warfare’. This form of military statecraft has made other former Soviet republics, such as the Baltic countries, fear that Russia would use subversion rather than pursue a conventional military engagement against them. Despite this concern about Russian hybrid war, existing descriptions of this form of war suffer from concep…
To Arm or to Ally? The Patron's Dilemma and the Strategic Logic of Arms Transfers and Alliances
How do great powers decide whether to provide arms to or form alliances with client states? This “patron's dilemma” revolves around a decision about how to best provide security to clients without becoming entrapped in unwanted conflicts. Strong commitments worsen the risk of entrapment, whereas weak commitments intensify fears of abandonment. This traditional alliance dilemma can be addressed through the provision of arms and alliances. Great po…
The art of partial commitment: The politics of military assistance to Ukraine
What sort of military assistance has Ukraine received to date from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members since 2014? What has driven NATO allies' decisions to provide military assistance to Ukraine? This essay addresses both questions. It offers a preliminary examination of how strategic, economic, and risk considerations might have shaped NATO members' decisions regarding arms transfers to Ukraine, a country that remains outside of t…
Disinformation in international politics
Concerns over disinformation have intensified in recent years. Policymakers, pundits, and observers worry that countries like Russia are spreading false narratives and disseminating rumours in order to shape international opinion and, by extension, government policies to their liking. Despite the importance of this topic, mainstream theories in International Relations offer contradictory guidance on how to think about disinformation. I argue that…
Russian hybrid warfare and extended deterrence in eastern Europe
Russia's use of force against Ukraine since early 2014 has prompted some observers to remark that it is engaging in ‘hybrid warfare’. This form of military statecraft has made other former Soviet republics, such as the Baltic countries, fear that Russia would use subversion rather than pursue a conventional military engagement against them. Despite this concern about Russian hybrid war, existing descriptions of this form of war suffer from concep…
Poland in a time of geopolitical flux
President Donald Trump has provoked U.S. allies into reevaluating their own national strategies and position within the international order that the United States purportedly fashioned and has sustained since 1945. This essay looks at Poland. Like other treaty allies such as Germany and Japan, Poland has maintained – even deepened – its security relationship with the United States in order to manage Trump. What distinguishes Poland, however, is t…
Tangled up in rose? Theories of alliance entrapment and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War
Recent tensions between Russia and the United States have sparked debate over the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). One controversy surrounds the extent to which NATO raises the risk of war through entrapment—a concept that scholars invoke to describe how states might drag their allies into undesirable military conflicts. Yet scholars have advanced different, even conflicting arguments about how entrapment risks arise. I off…
Do Allies Really Free Ride
American decision-makers and security analysts often complain that allies ‘free ride’on the United States. This charge serves a political end
Rage of Honor: Entente Indignation and the Lost Chance for Peace in the First World War
Why the First World War ended in 1918 and not earlier remains a major puzzle. We propose a new theory that emphasizes how honor prolongs wars beyond what rationalist theories can explain. It argues that when honor is insulted, an affronted actor will strive to punish the offender. Absent an apology, the pursuit of a satisfactory punishment leads the affronted belligerent to ignore unfavorable battlefield information, hold logically irreconcilable…
Credibility in Crises: How Patrons Reassure Their Allies
s How do citizens of US allies assess different reassurance strategies? This article investigates the effects of US reassurance policies on public opinion in allied states. We design and conduct a survey experiment in five Central–Eastern European states—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania—in March 2022. Set against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this experiment asked respondents to evaluate four types of reassurance st…
Beyond consent and coercion: Using republican political theory to understand international hierarchies
In categorizing international hierarchies, theorists often emphasize some balance between levels of consent and coercion. I show that emphasis on these terms is conceptually problematic. Borrowing insights from republican political theory, I argue that we can better distinguish hierarchies on the basis of whether they feature domination. Under domination the subordinate’s freedom of choice is contingent upon the predilections of the superordinate…
Nodal defence: The changing structure of U.S. alliance systems in Europe and East Asia
Scholars and pundits alike continue to portray the U.S.-led regional alliance systems in Europe and East Asia in stark, dichotomous terms. Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the standard model of multilateralism, the U.S.-led system of bilateral alliances in East Asia is the archetypal ‘hub-and-spokes’ structure in which different allies (the spokes) enjoy deep bilateral strategic ties with Washington (the hub) but not with each ot…
Reclaiming what is ours: Elite continuity and revanchism
What explains the revanchism of (post-)imperial states? This question has renewed salience amid Russia’s expanded war against Ukraine in 2022. In this article, we conceptualise revanchism as a foreign policy preference that involves reclaiming territory once controlled. We also advance a new explanation for revanchism that emphasises elite continuity in those states that experience territorial loss. Elite continuity matters because the ruling pol…
Russia’s rising military and communication power: From Chechnya to Crimea
Most scholars working on Russia’s use of strategic narratives recognize the importance of the Russian state. Nevertheless, the authors argue that much of the attention on strategic narratives has given insufficient appreciation for how Russia has developed its military and media policies in a coordinated manner: learning from its mistakes and failures as it went along, and becoming more efficient each time. In making their case, they examine thre…
Thank goodness for Nato enlargement
Alliances and Nuclear Proliferation in the Trump Era
The danger of U.S. allies wanting their own nuclear weapons appears to have intensified since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016. During the election campaign, Trump co
Beyond consent and coercion: Using republican political theory to understand international hierarchies
In categorizing international hierarchies, theorists often emphasize some balance between levels of consent and coercion. I show that emphasis on these terms is conceptually problematic. Borrowing insights from republican political theory, I argue that we can better distinguish hierarchies on the basis of whether they feature domination. Under domination the subordinate’s freedom of choice is contingent upon the predilections of the superordinate…
Landpower and American Credibility
The US Army is under pressure. If trends persist, it will soon shrink to its smallest size in nearly 70 years. While there are sound arguments for the current drawdown, reasonable policies can still yield unintended consequences. In particular, we argue American landpower helps make America's conventional and nuclear security guarantees credible. Since these guarantees stabilize alliances, deter aggression, and curb nuclear proliferation, landpow…
Do Allies Really Free Ride
American decision-makers and security analysts often complain that allies ‘free ride’on the United States. This charge serves a political end
Rage of Honor: Entente Indignation and the Lost Chance for Peace in the First World War
Why the First World War ended in 1918 and not earlier remains a major puzzle. We propose a new theory that emphasizes how honor prolongs wars beyond what rationalist theories can explain. It argues that when honor is insulted, an affronted actor will strive to punish the offender. Absent an apology, the pursuit of a satisfactory punishment leads the affronted belligerent to ignore unfavorable battlefield information, hold logically irreconcilable…
To Arm or to Ally? The Patron's Dilemma and the Strategic Logic of Arms Transfers and Alliances
How do great powers decide whether to provide arms to or form alliances with client states? This “patron's dilemma” revolves around a decision about how to best provide security to clients without becoming entrapped in unwanted conflicts. Strong commitments worsen the risk of entrapment, whereas weak commitments intensify fears of abandonment. This traditional alliance dilemma can be addressed through the provision of arms and alliances. Great po…
Russian hybrid warfare and extended deterrence in eastern Europe
Russia's use of force against Ukraine since early 2014 has prompted some observers to remark that it is engaging in ‘hybrid warfare’. This form of military statecraft has made other former Soviet republics, such as the Baltic countries, fear that Russia would use subversion rather than pursue a conventional military engagement against them. Despite this concern about Russian hybrid war, existing descriptions of this form of war suffer from concep…
The Belarus Factor in European Security
This article challenges strategists to reconsider longheld assumptions associated with the alliance between Belarus and Russia when planning military support for the Baltic states
Tangled up in rose? Theories of alliance entrapment and the 2008 Russo-Georgian War
Recent tensions between Russia and the United States have sparked debate over the value of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). One controversy surrounds the extent to which NATO raises the risk of war through entrapment—a concept that scholars invoke to describe how states might drag their allies into undesirable military conflicts. Yet scholars have advanced different, even conflicting arguments about how entrapment risks arise. I off…
From Ottawa to Riga: Three tensions in Canadian defence policy
In June 2016, Canada joined the United States, Great Britain, and Germany in becoming a Framework Nation that leads a multinational battalion-sized battlegroup in Latvia. Canada thus appears to be reprising the role it played during the Cold War as a leading participant in North Atlantic Treaty Organization deterrence and reassurance initiatives in Europe. Yet the three tensions that made Canada reduce its military commitments to allies over the …
Nuclear Proliferation and Nonproliferation among Soviet Allies
Most alliance-related explanations of nuclear proliferation and nonproliferation draw from US security relationships. Yet, the Soviet Union, too, exhibited variation in proliferation tendencies within its own system of alliances. Only one Warsaw Pact member—Romania—was interested in seeking nuclear weapons, whereas both of its East Asian allies—China and North Korea—pursued nuclear weapons. What explains this pattern of nuclear proliferation and …
Alliances and Nuclear Proliferation in the Trump Era
The danger of U.S. allies wanting their own nuclear weapons appears to have intensified since Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016. During the election campaign, Trump co
Arms, Alliances, and Patron-Client Relationships
In “To Arm or to Ally?” Keren Yarhi-Milo, Alexander Lanoszka, and Zack Cooper present an elegant and powerful theory that explains conditions under which a great power (in their case, the United States) offers a client state arms, an alliance commitment, or both.1 Their article does not give due attention, however, to what motivates a patron to provide security assistance to clients in the first place—especially its desire to influence its client…
Disinformation in international politics
Concerns over disinformation have intensified in recent years. Policymakers, pundits, and observers worry that countries like Russia are spreading false narratives and disseminating rumours in order to shape international opinion and, by extension, government policies to their liking. Despite the importance of this topic, mainstream theories in International Relations offer contradictory guidance on how to think about disinformation. I argue that…
Disinformation in international politics - Addendum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Thank goodness for Nato enlargement
Poland in a time of geopolitical flux
President Donald Trump has provoked U.S. allies into reevaluating their own national strategies and position within the international order that the United States purportedly fashioned and has sustained since 1945. This essay looks at Poland. Like other treaty allies such as Germany and Japan, Poland has maintained – even deepened – its security relationship with the United States in order to manage Trump. What distinguishes Poland, however, is t…
Russia’s rising military and communication power: From Chechnya to Crimea
Most scholars working on Russia’s use of strategic narratives recognize the importance of the Russian state. Nevertheless, the authors argue that much of the attention on strategic narratives has given insufficient appreciation for how Russia has developed its military and media policies in a coordinated manner: learning from its mistakes and failures as it went along, and becoming more efficient each time. In making their case, they examine thre…
A Military Drawdown in Germany? US Force Posture in Europe from Trump to Biden
The Biden administration has promised to revitalize a transatlantic alliance that has experienced much strain during Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump’s focus on strategic competition with China, eq
Nodal defence: The changing structure of U.S. alliance systems in Europe and East Asia
Scholars and pundits alike continue to portray the U.S.-led regional alliance systems in Europe and East Asia in stark, dichotomous terms. Whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the standard model of multilateralism, the U.S.-led system of bilateral alliances in East Asia is the archetypal ‘hub-and-spokes’ structure in which different allies (the spokes) enjoy deep bilateral strategic ties with Washington (the hub) but not with each ot…
Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century
Introduction to Forum
The art of partial commitment: The politics of military assistance to Ukraine
What sort of military assistance has Ukraine received to date from North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members since 2014? What has driven NATO allies' decisions to provide military assistance to Ukraine? This essay addresses both questions. It offers a preliminary examination of how strategic, economic, and risk considerations might have shaped NATO members' decisions regarding arms transfers to Ukraine, a country that remains outside of t…
Reclaiming what is ours: Elite continuity and revanchism
What explains the revanchism of (post-)imperial states? This question has renewed salience amid Russia’s expanded war against Ukraine in 2022. In this article, we conceptualise revanchism as a foreign policy preference that involves reclaiming territory once controlled. We also advance a new explanation for revanchism that emphasises elite continuity in those states that experience territorial loss. Elite continuity matters because the ruling pol…
Credibility in Crises: How Patrons Reassure Their Allies
s How do citizens of US allies assess different reassurance strategies? This article investigates the effects of US reassurance policies on public opinion in allied states. We design and conduct a survey experiment in five Central–Eastern European states—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania—in March 2022. Set against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this experiment asked respondents to evaluate four types of reassurance st…
Unconventional airpower: How non-state actors used aerial drone capabilities
Political science (25 works) · Law (19 works) · Law (17 works) · Politics (14 works) · International Relations and Foreign Policy (12 works) · Political economy (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Economics (10 works) · Alliance (7 works) · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies (7 works)