Kyle Beardsley authors chapter in Research Handbook on Conflict Prevention

How do changes in military capability among the great powers affect conflict processes? This question is explored in the Research Handbook on Conflict Prevention chapter “Great power politics and the dynamics of capability: the prevention of near-crisis escalation.”

In the chapter, Kyle Beardsley, professor of political science and affiliate of the Duke Center for International Development, and his co-authors argue that the relationship between military capability and conflict processes should be evaluated at a lower point in the conflict escalation cycle by focusing on near-crisis events. They develop propositions from the dynamics of capability literature and quantitatively evaluate what factors contribute to the (de-)escalation of near crises, using a dataset of involving at least one great power between 1995 and 2015. The patterns of near-crisis initiation and management confirm some of the expectations from both power transition theory and power cycle theory. The authors evaluate three near-crisis cases to stimulate future research on the connection between dynamics of capability and (de-)escalation at the near-crisis stage.

Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, the Research Handbook on Conflict Prevention provides a cohesive and comparative analysis of the ways in which organized violence is combatted. Renowned experts dissect the complex problem of conflict prevention by investigating its three main aspects: agency, methods and timing.