Question

Highlight any four choices available to a state when its security is threatened by a possible war.

Hint:

The strategic menu of a threatened state in traditional security can be easily summarized with the mnemonic S-D-B-D: Surrender, Deterrence, Balance of Power, and Defense.

Answer 1

Step 1: Understanding Traditional Security Dynamics:
Under the traditional paradigm of international relations, security is state-centric and primarily focused on military threats. When a state faces an imminent external threat of war from an aggressive adversary, its national sovereignty and physical survival are endangered. In such a scenario, political realist doctrine identifies specific strategic pathways available to state decision-makers.

Step 2: Detailing the Four Primary Security Choices:
A state confronted with a potential war has four distinct policy choices:
• Surrender (Submission): The first, and least desirable, option is to surrender to the aggressive adversary. The threatened state chooses to yield to the opponent's demands and accept defeat without launching into active military conflict, thereby avoiding the physical devastation and loss of life associated with war, though sacrificing geopolitical autonomy.
• Deterrence (Prevention of War): The state focuses on preventing war from breaking out in the first place. By building up its military hardware, modernizing its armed forces, or forming strategic defense alliances, the state projects credible defensive strength. The goal is to make the cost of launching an attack unacceptably high for the adversary, dissuading them from initiating hostilities.
• Balance of Power: This involves a systematic effort to match or neutralize the military power of the threatening state. A state can balance power through internal means (strengthening its own domestic economy, industrial capacity, and military capabilities) or external means (forging coalitions or alliances with third-party nations that share a common security interest in checking the adversary's rise).
• Defense (Active Combat and Repulsion): If deterrence fails and war is initiated, the state's choice is to actively defend its territories. It deploys its armed forces to resist the invasion, repel the attacking military, limit the destruction inflicted upon its population, and defeat the adversary to restore peace and secure national sovereignty.