Threatened or Actual Harm Can Provoke an Adversary Rather Than Coerce Them
The widespread belief that military action is necessary to national security rests on the logic of coercion: the idea that the threat or use of military violence will make an adversary back down, due to the high costs they would incur for not doing so. And yet, we know that this is often or usually not how adversaries—whether other countries or non-state armed groups—respond.