Fair Fights or Pointless Wars?Author(s): Kenneth N.
WaltzReviewed work(s):Source: International Security, Vol. 28, No.
3 (Winter, 2003/2004), p. 181Published by: The MIT PressStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4137482 .Accessed: 02/03/2012 10:28
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Correspondence Fair Fights or Pointless Wars?
Kenneth N. Waltz
To the Editors:
In the debate between Michael Desch and his critics in a recent
issue of International Se- curity, a big point is overlooked.' The
"fair fight" criterion, the critics say, is misplaced because their
theories predict that democracies are good at choosing victims they
know they can defeat. But why, when countries are mismatched, need
a war be fought? The weaker can hardly threaten the stronger, yet
democratic countries go to war against them.
If this is true, it tells us something frightening about the
behavior of democratic countries: namely, that they excel at
fighting and winning unnecessary wars.
-Kenneth N. Waltz New York, New York
Kenneth N. Waltz is a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia
University.
1. Michael C. Desch, "Democracy and Victory: Why Regime Type
Hardly Matters," International Security, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Fall
2002), pp. 5-47; and Ajin Choi, "The Power of Democratic Coopera-
tion," David A. Lake, "Fair Fights? Evaluating Theories of
Democracy and Victory," Dan Reiter and Allan C. Stam,
"Understanding Victory: Why Political Institutions Matter," and
Michael C. Desch, "Democracy and Victory: Fair Fights or Food
Fights?" all in International Security, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Summer
2003), pp. 142-153, 154-167, 168-179, 180-194.
International Security, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Winter 2003/04), p. 181
? 2004 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
181
Article Contentsp. 181
Issue Table of ContentsInternational Security, Vol. 28, No. 3
(Winter, 2003/2004), pp. 1-182Front Matter [pp. 1-2]Editors' Note
[pp. 3-4]Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies
of International Justice [pp. 5-44]Attack and Conquer?
International Anarchy and the Offense-Defense-Deterrence Balance
[pp. 45-83]Responding to the Bioweapons ThreatPathogens as Weapons:
The International Security Implications of Biological Warfare [pp.
84-122]A Double-Edged Sword: Globalization and Biosecurity [pp.
123-148]
Contending Visions of Asia's Security FutureWill Asia's Past Be
Its Future? [pp. 149-164]Hierarchy, Balancing, and Empirical
Puzzles in Asian International Relations [pp. 165-180]
CorrespondenceFair Fights or Pointless Wars? [p. 181]
Back Matter [pp. 182-182]
