Deterrence
Deterrenceis an exercise in coercion: it involves the use of threats and/or promises to dissuade an adversary from undertaking some action it might otherwise have taken. In political science terms, one entity, A, is said to have deterred another entity, B, if B, influenced by A's explicit or implicit threats or promises, chooses to refrain from certain activities. From A's perspective, deterrence represents an effort to achieve A's goal of preserving some aspect of the status quo by obtaining B's compliance, rather than by physically preventing an alteration in that status quo. From B's perspective, deterrence represents A's deliberate manipulation of B's calculation of costs and benefits to make acceptance of the status quo more attractive than challenging it.
For deterrence to operate, two conditions must exist. First, A must possess an effective coercive strategy—some combination of negative and positive sanctions large enough to shift B's...
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