caa a22 4500 386312435 CHVBK 20180307111553.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130s1988 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0020818300032823 doi S0020818300032823 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0020818300032823 Walt Stephen M. Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Testing theories of alliance formation: the case of Southwest Asia [Elektronische Daten] [Stephen M. Walt] The question "what causes alignment?” remains a basic issue in international relations theory. Moreover, competing hypotheses about alliance formation underlie many recurring policy debates. Balance-of-power theory predicts states will ally to oppose the strongest state; the "bandwagoning hypothesis” predicts that alignment with the stronger side is more likely. These two hypotheses are usually framed solely in terms of the distribution of capabilities (that is, the balance of power), which neglects several other important factors and leads to faulty predictions about alliance choices. A careful examination of the alliance policies of Iran, Turkey, India, and Pakistan reveals that "balance-of-threat theory” provides a better explanation of alliance choices than these other conceptions. This theory predicts that states balance against the most threatening state, rather than the most powerful. Threats are a function of power, geographic proximity, offensive capability, and perceived intentions. Thus, balance-of-threat theory is an important refinement of structural balance- of-power theory. Copyright © The IO Foundation 1988 International Organization Cambridge University Press 42/2(1988), 275-316 0020-8183 42:2<275 1988 42 INO https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300032823 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818300032823 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Walt Stephen M. Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- International Organization Cambridge University Press 42/2(1988), 275-316 0020-8183 42:2<275 1988 42 INO CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge