What Is the Offense-Defense Balance and How Can We Measure It?

In our second article, Charles Glaser of the University of Chicago and Chaim Kaufmann of Lehigh University respond to two major criticisms of offense-defense theory: first, that the theory lacks a commonly accepted definition of its key independent variable—the offense-defense balance—and, second, that the offense-defense balance cannot be measured. Glaser and Kaufmann define the balance as the “ratio of forces the attacker requires to take territory to the cost of the forces the defender has deployed.” They then explain why the critics have exaggerated how hard it is to measure this balance. While acknowledging that their approach could lead to a new round of criticism of offense-defense theory, the authors close with a strong endorsement of the theory’s overall soundness.