Warring Friends

Pressman draws on and critiques realist, normative, and institutionalist understandings of how alliance decisions are made.

Jeremy Pressman is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut.

This valuable study explores the logic of intra-alliance power relationships, looking in particular at moments when states try to use alliance ties to restrain risky military actions by their partners. In a wide-ranging survey of alliances in Europe and Asia over the last century, Pressman finds that the 'restraint motive' for alliance creation is as important as the 'mutual protection' motive.

John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago:

In this fascinating book, which is rich in historical detail, Jeremy Pressman shows how states use alliances to check their partners as well as their adversaries. He also explains when allies are likely to be restrained and when they are not. This is an important addition to the literature on alliances.