A Review of Fearon’s “Rationalist Explanations for War”
War and peace have played the central role in the field of international relations. In the paper “Rationalist Explanations for War”, Fearon provides three coherent rationalist explanations for the central puzzle about war, namely, why war occurs and recurs albeit war is inefficient ex post.
Fearon first refutes five rationalist arguments that accepted as tenable in previous literature. These arguments are: 1) anarchy; 2) expected benefits greater than expected costs; 3) rational preventive war; 4) rational miscalculation due to lack of information; and 5) rational miscalculation or disagreement about relative power. Fearon criticizes that the first three arguments simply do not address
War and peace have played the central role in the field of international relations. In the paper “Rationalist Explanations for War”, Fearon provides three coherent rationalist explanations for the central puzzle about war, namely, why war occurs and recurs albeit war is inefficient ex post.
Fearon first refutes five rationalist arguments that accepted as tenable in previous literature. These arguments are: 1) anarchy; 2) expected benefits greater than expected costs; 3) rational preventive war; 4) rational miscalculation due to lack of information; and 5) rational miscalculation or disagreement about relative power. Fearon criticizes that the first three arguments simply do not address