Untied Hands
How States Avoid the Wrong Wars

Transforms conventional understandings of how states advance their national security whilst avoiding unwanted wars.

Dan Reiter (Author)

9781009596053, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 June 2025

265 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.545 kg

'Untied Hands offers a forceful reminder how theories must be evaluated against data and not just whether they appear compelling.' Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, Journal of Peace Research

How do states advance their national security interests? Conventional wisdom holds that states must court the risk of catastrophic war by 'tying their hands' to credibly protect their interests. Dan Reiter overturns this perspective with the compelling argument that states craft flexible foreign policies to avoid unwanted wars. Through a comprehensive analysis of key international crises, including the Berlin, Taiwan Straits, and Cuban Missile Crises, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Reiter provides new perspectives on the causes of wars, the role of international alliances, foreign troop deployments, leader madness, and the impact of AI on international relations. With critical insights into contemporary foreign policy challenges, such as America's role in NATO, the risks of war with China, containing a resurgent Russia, and the dangers of nuclear war, Untied Hands is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how states can effectively manage international crises while avoiding the wrong wars.

1. Introduction: tied hands and the search for credibility
2. Keeping hands untied to avoid the wrong war
3. Brinkmanship: why states do not play Russian roulette
4. The absence of brinkmanship success
5. The flexibility of alliance commitments
6. The flexibility of America's Cold War alliances
7. Tripwire force deployments
8. Leaders without reason and machines without souls
9. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS]