Reluctance in World Politics: Why States Fail to Act Decisively

Why do international actors, including powerful states, often fail to develop clear foreign policies and instead adopt indecisive, ‘muddling-through’ approaches?

This book develops a concept and a theory of reluctance in world politics. Applying it to the study of regional crisis management by leading powers, it finds that reluctance emerges when governments fail to devise clear foreign policy preferences and face competing international pressures.

The study of reluctance in world politics sheds new light on some of the most pressing problems of our time, from weak crisis management to cooperation deficits in global governance.

Sandra Destradi is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and Chair for International Relations at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Previously, she was a Professor of International Relations and Regional Governance at the Helmut Schmidt University, a Senior Research Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schumann Centre of the European University Institute. Her research interests include the impact of populism and authoritarianism on foreign policy, emerging powers and global governance and (trans)regional security dynamics in the Global South and beyond.