Competition Under the Security Dilemma

The security dilemma is one of the most famous concepts in international politics. Yet questions remain about its causes and consequences. How often are great powers under the security dilemma? How do they behave? This article answers these questions with a structural realist theory. It finds that great powers are always under the security dilemma. It almost invariably causes them to compete for the means to security. Structural realism offers a better understanding of the security dilemma than offense-defense theory