Arms and Influence

"The power to hurt - the sheer unacquisitive, unproductive power to destroy things that somebody treasures, to inflict pain and grief - is a kind of bargaining power, not easy to use but used often."

After the publication of The Stategy of Conflict, Schelling wrote a book that seemed to focus more on the threats of violence in bargaining of military conflict. Arms and Influence seems mostly interested with the points on different international policies a country might take in deterring or acting in a war (This book is mostly a discussion of the topic without any provided models drawn out). These potential policies are explained using examples from historical battles both real and fictional. Some of the concepts covered more in depth are the ideas on "brinkmanship". The concept of brinkmanship is being at the point of total war without actually moving into it. This borderline threat keeps nations in check with one another. This directly correlates with the United States policy M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction) with the USSR. This policy came was due to the nuclear arms that both countries possessed. The Cuban Missile Crisis was each nation testing the limits of the other to find the point where they could advance to without causing total war.

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