Twilight of the Titans: Great Power Decline and Retrenchment

By Paul K. MacDonald and Joseph M. Parent

Book Overview

In Twilight of the Titans, Paul K. MacDonald and Joseph M. Parent examine great power transitions since 1870 to determine how declining powers choose to behave, identifying the strong incentives to moderate their behavior when the hierarchy of great powers is shifting. Challenging the conventional wisdom that such transitions push declining great powers to extreme measures, this book argues that intimidation, provocation, and preventive war are not the only alternatives to the loss of relative power and prestige. Using numerous case studies, MacDonald and Parent show how declining states tend to behave, the policy options they have, how rising states respond to those in decline, and what conditions reward particular strategic choices.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 150171709X
• ISBN13: 9781501717093
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher