Frenemies

In Frenemies Mark L. Haas addresses policy-guiding puzzles such as: Why do international ideological enemies sometimes overcome their differences and ally against shared threats? Why, just as often, do such alliances fail?

Alliances among ideological enemies confronting a common foe, or "frenemy" alliances, are unlike coalitions among ideologically-similar states facing comparable threats. Members of frenemy alliances are perpetually torn by two powerful opposing forces. Haas shows that shared material threats push these states together while ideological differences pull them apart. Each of these competing forces has dominated the other at critical times. This difference has resulted in stable alliances among ideological enemies in some cases but the delay, dissolution, or failure of these alliances in others.

Haas examines how states' susceptibility to major domestic ideological changes and the nature of the ideological differences among countries provide the key to alliance formation or failure. This sophisticated framework is applied to a diverse range of critical historical and contemporary cases, from the failure of British and French leaders to ally with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany in the 1930s to the likely evolution of the United States' alliance system against a rising China in the early 21st century.

In Frenemies, Haas develops a groundbreaking argument that explains the origins and durability of alliances among ideological enemies and offers policy-guiding perspectives on a subject at the core of international relations.

Mark L. Haas is Professor of Political Science and Raymond J. Kelley Endowed Chair in International Relations at Duquesne University. He is author of The Ideological Origin of Great Power Politics, 1789-1989 and The Clash of Ideologies.

The book addresses significant questions of alliance politics, holds key insights on alliance formation outcomes, and generates important policy implications.

This insightful book shows that traditional realist approaches miss a critical dimension in many situations: ideology. Mark L. Haas (Duquesne Univ.) analyzes three situations: the failures of France and Britain to forge a defensive alliance with the USSR to counter German threats in the 1930s, the Chinese decision to open relations with their erstwhile American enemy in the 1970s, and the collapse of Turkish-Israeli security ties in 2009–10.

Gregory D. Miller, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, author of The Shadow of the Past :

State alliances with ideological rivals are understudied and often misunderstood. In Frenemies, Mark L. Haas provides an empirically-grounded and engaging explanation that meets the needs of scholars, policy makers, and leaders looking to understand these unorthodox compacts. This book is required reading.

Matthew Kroenig, Georgetown University, author of The Return of Great Power Rivalry :

This persuasive book is a truly groundbreaking contribution to the scholarly literature on alliances. Mark L. Haas's important insights should inform policymakers seeking to forge new global partnerships.

Keren Yarhi-Milo, Columbia University, author of Knowing the Adversary:

Mark L. Haas's Frenemies significantly advances our understanding of how, when, and why alliances between ideological rivals form, and the role of domestic politics in shaping these foreign policy outcomes. Frenemies offers significant and fresh implications for both theory and policy. It is a must read.

Peter J. Katzenstein, Cornell University, author of Anglo-America and its Discontents :

This illuminating book creatively extends Mark L. Haas's important work on ideology in foreign policy. In Frenemies he probes the cross-pressures between international security and domestic ideological threats—the result is an important contribution to the analysis of foreign policy.

Randall L. Schweller, Ohio State University, author of Maxwell's Demon and the Golden Apple :

Mark L. Haas's Frenemies is the best book written in the past two decades on alliances. This brilliant work offers an elegant theory to explain when security cooperation among ideological rivals who share a dangerous enemy will emerge. For years to come, Frenemies will stimulate thinking and guide policymaking about which states are likely to ally with whom.