Synthesized answer
The passages discuss the concept of military capabilities being used as bargaining power, rather than solely as a means of direct victory [1, 2]. This bargaining power is central to the "diplomacy of violence," where military power is more often threatened than exercised [1]. The author focuses on how military capabilities, whether real or imagined, are employed in skillful or clumsy ways within this framework [1, 2].
The practical implications revolve around the skillful use of military capabilities as bargaining power in a diplomatic context [1, 2]. This includes how steps taken during crises, like the Berlin and Cuban crises, can serve as signals to an adversary, with intelligence reports being crucial diplomatic communications [1]. The framework developed by Schelling, though conceived in a different geopolitical era, is presented as still relevant for understanding conflict in today's multipolar world [2].
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
Title: Arms and influence by Thomas C. Schelling Description: Traditionally, Americans have viewed war as an alternative to diplomacy, and military strategy as the science of victory. Today, however, in our world of nuclear weapons, military power is not so much exercised as threatened. It is, Mr. Schelling says, bargaining power, and the exploitation of this power, for good or evil, to preserve peace or to threaten war, is diplomacy - the diplomacy of violence. The author concentrates in this book on the way in which military capabilites - real or imagined - are used, skillfully or…
hose who have taken refuge in stereotypes and moral attitudinizing."--Gordon A. Craig, New York Times Book Review Originally published more than fifty years ago, this landmark book explores the ways in which military capabilities--real or imagined--are used, skillfully or clumsily, as bargaining power. Anne-Marie Slaughter's new introduction to the work shows how Schelling's framework--conceived of in a time of superpowers and mutually assured destruction--still applies to our multipolar world, where wars are fought as much online as on the ground. Categories: Political Science Pages:…