To Put Oneself into the other Fellow's Place
John Herz, the Security Dilemma and the Nuclear Age
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4444376 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicholas J Wheeler (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 493-509 |
| Publication date | 2008-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Relations (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117808097313 |
| OpenAlex | W2065988364 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 18 |
It is well known in the literature on security dilemma theorising that John Herz coined the concept in the early 1950s, with Herbert Butterfield developing a very similar concept at the same time. What is less well appreciated is that Butterfield powerfully argued in his 1951 book History and Human Relations that there was no prospect of state leaders and diplomats overcoming the dynamics of mutual suspicion and distrust that created what he had chosen to call a condition of `Hobbesian fear'. Herz parted company with Butterfield on this fundamental question, considering that two adversaries could come to appreciate that what they perceived as the other's hostile behaviour was a defensive response to their own actions. This article revisits this fundamental question that divided the pioneer theorists of the security dilemma as to whether better mutual understanding between potential rivals might be the key to mitigating fear-based hostility. The article discusses this question in relation to Herz's ideas about surviving the nuclear age, and shows how he believed that knowledge of the security dilemma was critical if the superpowers were to mitigate their security competition. Having examined how far the end of the Cold War supports Herz's position, the article concludes by showing how Herz became increasingly disillusioned that the United States was capable of acting to mitigate the security dilemma in the post-Cold War world
Adversary · Competition (biology) · Computer security · Dilemma · Distrust · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Security Dilemma · Security studies · Sociology · State (computer science) · Intelligence, Security, War Strategy · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Philosophy
Realism and the critique of technology
Overcoming the Four Horsemen of Reassurance Diplomacy
The Securitization Dilemma
One Concept, Many Worlds
Auto-immunity of Trust without Trust
The (classical) Realist vision of global reform
Escaping a security dilemma
I spy with my little eye
New Perspectives on Trust in International Conflicts
Addressing Humanity’s failure to establish Existential Security
The Empathic Foundations of Security Dilemma De‐escalation
Political realism and political idealism.
International Politics in the Atomic Age
Trust and Mistrust in International Relations
The Soviet–American War Scare of the 1980s
Russia and the Idea of the West
Breaking Out of the Security Dilemma
The security dilemma and ethnic conflict
The great transition
Reagan and Gorbachev
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
Game Theory and the Spiral Model
The Security Dilemma Revisited
Political Consequences of Military Strategy
Trust, Reassurance, and Cooperation
Sheep in Sheep's clothing
Ontological Security in World Politics
Idealist Internationalism and the Security Dilemma
Herbert Butterfield, History and Human Relations
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,65 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |