Arms Races in International Politics

This volume provides the first comprehensive history of the arms racing phenomenon in modern international politics, drawing both on theoretical approaches and on the latest historical research. Written by an international team of specialists, it is divided into four sections: before 1914; the inter-war years; the Cold War; and extra-European and post-Cold War arms races. Twelve case studies examine land and naval armaments before the First World War; air, land, and naval competition during the 1920s and 1930s; and nuclear as well as conventional weapons since 1945. Armaments policies are placed within the context of technological development, international politics and diplomacy, and social politics and economics. An extended general introduction and conclusion and introductions to each section provide coherence between the specialized chapters and draw out wider implications for policymakers and for political scientists. Arms Races in International Politics addresses two key questions: what causes arms races and what is the connection between arms races and the outbreak of wars?

Thomas G. Mahnken is currently Jerome E. Levy Chair of Economic Geography and National Security at the U.S. Naval War College and a Senior Research Professor at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at The Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His most recent books are Strategy in Asia: The Past, Present and Future of Regional Security (2014) and Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice (2012). He is co-editor of The Journal of Strategic Studies.

Joseph Maiolo is Professor of International History in the Department of War Studies, King's College London, and Visiting Research Professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence University, Oslo. He is author of Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941 (2010), co-author of An International History of the Twentieth Century (2014), and co-editor of volume II of The Cambridge History of the Second World War (2015). He is co-editor of The Journal of Strategic Studies.

David Stevenson holds the Stevenson Chair of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His publications include Armaments and the Coming of War: Europe, 1904-1914 (1996); 1914-1918: the History of the First World War (2004); and With Our Backs to the Wall: Victory and Defeat in 1918 (2011). He is currently preparing an international history of the year 1917.