Renshon J. Why Leaders Choose War The Psychology of Prevention

2006, PRAEGER SECURITY INTERNATIONAL, Westport, Connecticut; LondonThis book makes an important contribution to understanding preventive war. The major contribution is the author’s emphasis on the critical importance of a top leader’s role in considering preventive war.A basic distinction is made between preventive war and preventive action. Five detailed case studies are presented, only one of which—the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2003—constitutes a preventive war. One case study considers President Eisenhower’s rejection of preventive war against the Soviet Union. Two other case studies deal with preventive action: the British-French-Israeli action against the Suez Canal in 1956, and Israeli action in 1981 against Iraq’s nuclear reactor. The fifth case study focuses on military conflicts and crises between India and Pakistan, 1982–2002, in which neither preventive war nor preventive action occurred.