Coercive Diplomacy

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Coercive Diplomacy is a diplomatic method used by a country in which the use of force, military action or economic sanction is threatened or hinted at to force another country to give in to a certain demand or take or not take a particular action. An example would be prior to World War II, when the United States threatened an oil embargo unless Japan withdrew its forces from occupied China.

According to Alexander George[1], there are seven conditions that favor (but do not guarantee) the success of coercive diplomacy in a given situation. These are:

  1. clarity of the coercer's objective
  2. strength of the coercer's motivation
  3. asymmetry of motivation (the target must feel that the coercer is more motivated to carry out its threat than it itself is motivated not to comply)
  4. target's perception of sense of urgency
  5. sufficient domestic and international support
  6. opponent's fear of unacceptable escalation
  7. clarity regarding the precise terms of the settlement of the crisis (that initially led to coercive diplomacy)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Alexander George, Forceful Persuasion: Coercive Diplomacy as an Alternative to War, (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1991) Summary.


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