Alliance Politics

Glenn H. Snyder creates a theory of alliances by deductive reasoning about the international system, by integrating ideas from neorealism, coalition formation, bargaining, and game theory, and by empirical generalization from international history. Using cases from 1879 to 1914 to present a theory of alliance formation and management in a multipolar international system, he focuses particularly on three cases-Austria-Germany, Austria-Germany-Russia, and France-Russia-and examines twenty-two episodes of intra-alliance bargaining. Snyder develops the concept of the alliance security dilemma as a vehicle for examining influence relations between allies. He draws parallels between alliance and adversary bargaining and shows how the two intersect. He assesses the role of alliance norms and the interplay of concerts and alliances.His great achievement in Alliance Politics is to have crafted definitive scholarly insights in a way that is useful and interesting not only to the specialist in security affairs but also to any reasonably informed person trying to understand world affairs.

“"With a multipolar world emerging, Glenn Snyder's book is right on the mark: a brilliant application of neorealist and other theories to questions of alliance formation and management."-Kenneth Waltz, University of California, Berkeley”

"Few scholars have contributed as much to our understanding of international relations as has Glenn Snyder. His latest book on the formation and management of alliances, the product of nearly two decades of research, is arguably his most sophisticated and important work. Unparalleled in conceptual clarity and theoretical richness, Alliance Politics is a monumental achievement that sets a new standard by which future alliance studies will be judged... A rich and complex but crisply written book that should be required reading for any serious student or practitioner of international relations. Alliance Politics is a virtuoso performance by a mature scholar of unsurpassed intellectual firepower; it ranks among the finest books the field has ever produced and was well worth the wait."-Political Science Quarterly "A much needed-theoretical analysis of the formation and management of alliances... Snyder must be credited for an exhaustive survey of the theoretical and historical literature, and the creativity with which he applies formulaic evaluations to historical cases."-The Review of Politics "For those who are truly interested in the relationship between politics and the military, reading Alliance Politics is worth the effort."-LTC Laurence W. Mazzeno, Military Review. November-December, 1999. "Alliance Politics is an immediate classic... laying out the general structural logic and tensions of alliance formation and management. The book is also a classic in style. Snyder's writing is a model of clarity."-Edward Rhodes, Rutgers University

Glenn H. Snyder is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of numerous books, including Conflict Among Nations with Paul Diesing.

Glenn H. Snyder creates a theory of alliances by deductive reasoning about the international system, by integrating ideas from neorealism, coalition formation, bargaining, and game theory, and by empirical generalization from international history. Using cases from 1879 to 1914 to present a theory of alliance formation and management in a multipolar international system, he focuses particularly on three cases--Austria-Germany, Austria-Germany-Russia, and France-Russia--and examines twenty-two episodes of intra-alliance bargaining. Snyder develops the concept of the alliance security dilemma as a vehicle for examining influence relations between allies. He draws parallels between alliance and adversary bargaining and shows how the two intersect. He assesses the role of alliance norms and the interplay of concerts and alliances.His great achievement in Alliance Politics is to have crafted definitive scholarly insights in a way that is useful and interesting not only to the specialist in security affairs but also to any reasonably informed person trying to understand world affairs.

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