International Security

Volume 50 Issue 2 | International Security | MIT Press

7) We hope you enjoy the new issue of International Security!

Fall 2025: direct.mit.edu/isec/issue

To Agree or Not to Agree: Hawks, Doves, and Regime Type in International Rivalry and Rapprochement Abstract. Existing scholarship emphasizes hawks’ advantages in making peace, but it is squarely focused on electorally accountable leaders, even though most international rivalries feature at least on...

6) “To Agree or Not to Agree: Hawks, Doves, and Regime Type in International Rivalry and Rapprochement,” by @mikegoldfien.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: How Clients Evade Patrons’ Costly Strategic Demands Abstract. How do U.S. security clients cope with the United States’ strategic demands to take actions that conflict with their political or economic interests? Much of the literature on intra-alliance...

5) “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: How Clients Evade Patrons’ Costly Strategic Demands,” by Dong Jung Kim

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

Conventional Deterrence of Nuclear Use Abstract. Some academic literature and U.S. policy documents suggest that conventional deterrence is weaker than nuclear deterrence. But recent developments in U.S. policy suggest that conventional fo...

4) “Conventional Deterrence of Nuclear Use,” by @ajmount.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

U.S. Space Power and Alliance Dynamics in the Cold War Abstract. U.S. space power has long been anchored to terrestrial geography. In the Cold War, the United States depended on a global network of facilities to track and communicate with military, intell...

3) “U.S. Space Power and Alliance Dynamics in the Cold War,” by @aaronbateman.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

This article is Open Access.

The Rules-Based International Order: A Historical Analysis Abstract. There has been a good deal of talk in recent years about the “rules-based international order”—the system of laws, agreements, principles, and institutions that, many observers say, lay at the heart of the international system that came into being after World War II. It is often argued that maintaining the rules-based order—and extending it if possible—should be a fundamental goal not just for the United States but for Western countries more generally. Those liberal internationalist arguments are supported by a number of historical claims: about how the rules-based order came into being and about the role played by key institutions, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Bretton Woods monetary system. Those claims are examined here. The basic finding is that many common arguments in this area are not supported by the historical evidence. That finding serves as a kind of springboard for thinking about whether there are any viable alternatives to the sort of policy the liberal internationalists have called for. The argument here is that there are viable alternatives—alternatives based on certain traditional ideas about how foreign policy should be conducted.

2) Articles from the issue include:

“The Rules-Based International Order: A Historical Analysis,” by Marc Trachtenberg

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

This article is ungated thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social.

Volume 50 Issue 2 | International Security | MIT Press

1) ***Announcement***

The new Fall 2025 issue is online!

Read articles by Marc Trachtenberg, @aaronbateman.bsky.social, @ajmount.bsky.social, Dong Jung Kim, and @mikegoldfien.bsky.social

direct.mit.edu/isec/issue

@mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social

This is an intriguing new @intsecurity.bsky.social article on China as essentially a status quo power challenging US assumptions of high aggression

direct.mit.edu/isec/article...

The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox: Limited War in East Asia Abstract. With China and the United States seemingly locked in intensifying and enduring competition, many analysts compare today's U.S.-China rivalry with the one between the Soviet Union and the Uni...

A US–USSR limited war was unlikely due to land theater & limited precision, yet US–China tensions, centered on a maritime theater with precision & non-kinetic weapons, make a limited regional nuclear war over Taiwan more likely, argue Henrik Hiim & Øystein Tunsjø @intsecurity.bsky.social 10/10

Worth a read

Great piece on Iraq in this season's issue of @intsecurity.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social

Terrific issue. @belfercenter.bsky.social

@drjlhazelton.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @ssp-mit.bsky.social

Volume 50 Issue 1 | International Security | MIT Press

We hope you enjoy the new issue of International Security!

Summer 2025: direct.mit.edu/isec/issue

The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox: Limited War in East Asia Abstract. With China and the United States seemingly locked in intensifying and enduring competition, many analysts compare today's U.S.-China rivalry with the one between the Soviet Union and the Uni...

“The U.S.-China Stability-Instability Paradox: Limited War in East Asia,” by Henrik Hiim and Øystein Tunsjø

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

Access Denied? The Sino-American Contest for Military Primacy in Asia Abstract. How has the balance of power shifted in maritime East Asia, and what does this change mean for the U.S.-China military competition in the region? We examine these questions by focusing on a ...

“Access Denied? The Sino-American Contest for Military Primacy in Asia,” by Nick Anderson and Daryl Press

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

Keeping Pace with the Times: China's Arms Control Tradition, New Challenges, and Nuclear Learning Abstract. Many scholars assume that classical arms control theory, derived from U.S.-Soviet experiences, is universal. But China—being the weaker party in an asymmetric nuclear relationship—has develo...

“Keeping Pace with the Times: China’s Arms Control Tradition, New Challenges, and Nuclear Learning,” by Wu Riqiang

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

What Does China Want? Abstract. The conventional wisdom is that China is a rising hegemon eager to replace the United States, dominate international institutions, and re-create the liberal international order in its own im...

“What Does China Want?” by @daveckang.bsky.social, Jackie S. H. Wong, and @zenobiachan.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

This article is ungated thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social.

Knowing What Not to Know About Islamic State: Terrorism Studies and Public Secrecy Abstract. This article identifies key differences between mainstream and Iraq-based understandings of Islamic State (ISIS) and how it rose to power in Iraq. The conventional wisdom in English-language...

Articles from the issue include:

“Knowing What Not to Know About Islamic State: Terrorism Studies and Public Secrecy,” by @drsarahphillips.bsky.social and Daniel Tower

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

This article is Open Access.

Volume 50 Issue 1 | International Security | MIT Press

***Announcement***

The Summer 2025 issue is online!

Read articles by @drsarahphillips.bsky.social and Daniel Tower; @daveckang.bsky.social‬, Jackie S. H. Wong, and @zenobiachan.bsky.social; Wu Riqiang; Nick Anderson and Daryl Press; and Henrik Hiim and Øystein Tunsjø

direct.mit.edu/isec/issue

Summer 2025 issue preview! @intsecurity.bsky.social ‪@mitpress.bsky.social‬

Phillips & Tower ➡️ ISIS
Kang, Wong, ‪@zenobiachan.bsky.social‬ ➡️ What does China want?
Wu Riqiang ➡️ China’s views on arms control
Anderson & Press ➡️ Military primacy in Asia
Hiim & Tunsjo ➡️ Limited war in East Asia

International Security Summer 2025 issue preview: ISIS, what does China want? China on arms control, military primacy in Asia, limited war in East Asia

Summer 2025 issue preview: ISIS, what does China want? China on arms control, military primacy in Asia, limited war in East Asia @daveckang.bsky.social @zenobiachan.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @dartmouthdickey.bsky.social @intsecurity.bsky.social

Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe Abstract. Sizeable Jewish and Muslim communities lived across large swathes of medieval Western Europe. But all the Muslim communities and almost all the Jewish communities in polities that correspond...

@senerakturk.bsky.social's fascinating International Security article, "Not So Innocent: Clerics, Monarchs, and the Ethnoreligious Cleansing of Western Europe” wins the Outstanding Article Award from APSA International History and Politics Section direct.mit.edu/isec/article...

@mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social

Language Machines is out today, can be ordered from @uminnpress.bsky.social www.upress.umn.edu/978151791932... - gathering a few parergonal writings below 1/

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...

Live now. The Realist Debate Over How to Respond to China. With @stephenwalt.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @dartmouthdickey.bsky.social @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social international-security.simplecast.com/episodes/7-t...

Monks Behaving Badly: Explaining Buddhist Violence in Asia Buddhism is commonly associated with peace, tolerance, and compassion. But like every other great religion, it has a violent side.

A short piece from the new issue of International Security: "Monks Behaving Badly: Explaining Buddhist Violence in Asia" thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/monks-behavi... Great piece. @intsecurity.bsky.social @pearson-edits.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social

Volume 49 Issue 4 | International Security | MIT Press

7) We hope you enjoy the new issue of International Security!

Spring 2025: direct.mit.edu/isec/issue/4...

6) “Lost in Transmission: Bureaucracy, Noise, and Communication in International Politics,” by @doncasler.bsky.social and Tyler Jost.
doi.org/10.1162/isec...

This article is Open Access.