International Security Journal Highlights

Vol. 45 No. 2, Fall 2020

Note: As a courtesy to the Belfer Center, MIT Press has made this issue of the journal International Security available until December 20 without subscription. The articles on this page can be read here. 

“Network Connections and the Emergence of the Hub-and-Spokes Alliance System in East Asia”

By Yasuhiro Izumikawa

A social exchange network approach reveals how three U.S. allies—Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—contributed to the emergence and shape of the hub-and-spokes alliance system in East Asia. This finding enables scholars and policymakers to devise appropriate policy responses as the system changes.

“Death Dust: The Little-Known Story of U.S. and Soviet Pursuit of Radiological Weapons”

By Samuel Meyer, Sarah Bidgood, and William C. Potter

A comparative analysis of the United States’ and the Soviet Union’s previously underexplored radiological weapons programs identifies the drivers behind their rise and demise. The findings of this analysis illuminate the factors likely to affect the pursuit of radiological weapons by other states in the future.

International Security: Off the Page

Off the Page brings policymakers, academics, and practitioners into conversation about security issues of global importance. In each episode, we discuss recently-published research in International Security and go beyond each article’s findings to examine ongoing, real-world issues. As such, we’ll be going “off the page” and into the heart of contemporary policy debate. 

Subscribe to IS: Off the Page on Apple Podcasts

“Putin, Putinism, and the Domestic Determinants of Russian Foreign Policy”

By Michael McFaul

Why did Russia’s relations with the West shift from cooperation a few decades ago to a new era of confrontation today? Tracing the causal influence of domestic determinants—individuals (President Vladimir Putin), ideas (Putinism), and institutions (autocracy)—reveals Putin’s significant influence in the making of Russian foreign policy.

“The Stopping Power of Norms: Saturation Bombing, Civilian Immunity, and U.S. Attitudes toward the Laws of War”

By Charli Carpenter and Alexander H. Montgomery

Carpenter and Montgomery replicate a key question from Sagan and Valentino’s landmark survey of U.S. attitudes toward the laws of war and introduce variations into Sagan and Valentino’s experiment. The findings reveal Americans’ strong belief that targeting civilians is wrong, and that a majority would likely oppose such action in real life.

“Does the Noncombatant Immunity Norm Have Stopping Power? A Debate”

Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino, and Charli Carpenter and Alexander Montgomery continue the debate on the power of noncombatant immunity norms, discuss how scholars should approach the study of these norms, and emphasize their shared objective to determine how security norms can be bolstered rather than undermined.

Highlights compiled by International Security Journal staff

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