This article examines the conditions under which conquest is likely to reap significant economic rewards. Scholars have largely focused on how the level of popular resistance within the vanquished country influences the benefits of conquest. What needs to be scrutinized in greater depth is how post-World War II economic transformations within the most advanced countries affect the benefits of conquest. This article focuses on examining one particular economic change that has been neglected for the most part in the security and peace literature: the globalization of production. The article delineates four recent changes in the structure of global production and outlines how each of these economic transformations alters the benefits of conquest. The collective impact of the arguments strongly indicates that the benefits of conquest have declined significantly in recent years within the most economically advanced countries.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Angell, N. 1910. The great illusion: A study of the relationship of military power in nations to their economic and social advantage. London: Heinemann.
2.
Bates, R.1991. The economics of transitions to democracy. PS: Political Science and Politics24:24-27.
3.
Brooks, S. 1999. The globalization of production and international security. Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University.
4.
Bueno de Mesquita, B. 1981. The war trap. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
5.
Bunce, V.1985. The empire strikes back: The evolution of the Eastern Bloc from a Soviet asset to a Soviet liability. International Organization39:1-46.
6.
Cantwell, J. 1998. The globalization of technology: What remains of the product-cycle model? In The dynamic firm: The role of technology, strategy, organization, and regions, edited by A. Chandler, P. Hagstrom, and O. Solvell. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
7.
Cohn, S.1981. Adopting innovations in a technology push industry. Research Management24:26-31.
8.
Dicken, P. 1998. Global shift: Transforming the world economy. New York: Guilford.
9.
Doyle, M. 1997. Ways of war and peace: Realism, liberalism, and socialism. New York: Norton.
10.
Dunning, J. 1993. Multinational enterprises and the global economy. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
11.
Dunning, J. 1994. Globalization, economic restructuring, and development. Working paper No. 187, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
12.
Dunning, J.1995. Reappraising the eclectic paradigm in an age of alliance capitalism. Journal of International Business Studies26:461-491.
13.
Evangelista, M. 1988. Innovation in the arms race: How the United States and the Soviet Union develop new military technologies. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
14.
Freeman, C., and J. Hagedoorn. 1992. Globalization of technology. Working paper, Maastricht Research Institute on Innovation and Technology.
15.
Frobel, F. , J. Heinrichs, and O. Kreye. 1980. The new international division of labour. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Gaddis, J. 1987. The long peace: Inquiries into the history of the cold war. New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
Gilpin, R. 1981. War and change in world politics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Gilpin, R.1989. The theory of hegemonic war. Journal of Interdisciplinary History18:591-613.
19.
Glaser, C. , and C. Kaufmann. 1998. What is the offense-defense balance and how can we measure it?International Security22:44-82.
20.
Hagedoorn, J. 1993. Strategic technology alliances and modes of cooperation in high technology industries. In The embedded firm, edited by G. Grabher. London: Routledge.
21.
Hagedoorn, J. , and J. Schakenraad. 1990. Inter-firm partnerships and cooperative strategies in core technologies. In Perspectives in industrial economics, edited by B. Dankbaar, J. Groenewegen, and H. Schenk. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer.
22.
Hanson, P. , and K. Pavitt. 1987. The comparative economics of research and development in East and West: A survey. London: Harwood Academic.
23.
Holsti, K. 1991. Peace and war: Armed conflicts and international order 1648-1989. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
24.
Hu, Y.-S.1992. Global firms are national firms with international operations. California Management Review34:107-126.
25.
Jervis, R.1978. Cooperation under the security dilemma. World Politics30:167-214.
26.
Jervis, R.1991-92. The future of world politics: Will it resemble the past?International Security16:39-73.
27.
Jones, G. 1996. The evolution of international business. London: Routledge.
28.
Kaysen, C.1990. Is war obsolete?International Security14:42-64.
29.
Kenney, M. , and R. Florida. 1993. Beyond mass production. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
30.
Keohane, R. , and J. Nye. 1972. Transnational relations and world politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
31.
Kiewiet, D. , and M. McCubbins. 1991. The logic of delegation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
32.
Kirshner, J.1998. Political economy in security studies after the cold war. Review of International Political Economy5:64-91.
33.
Knorr, K. 1975. The power of nations: The political economy of international relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
34.
Kobrin, S. 1997. The architecture of globalization: State sovereignty in a networked global economy. In Governments, globalization, and international business, edited by J. Dunning. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
35.
Levesque, J. 1997. The enigma of 1989: The USSR and the liberation of Eastern Europe. Berkeley: University of California Press.
36.
Levy, D.1993. International production and sourcing: Trends and issues. Science, Technology, Industry Review13:13-59.
37.
Liberman, P. 1996. Does conquest pay? The exploitation of occupied industrial societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
38.
Malone, T. , and J. Rockhart. 1993. How will information technology reshape organizations? Computers as coordination technology. In Globalization, technology, and competition: The fusion of computers and telecommunications in the 1990s, edited by S. Bradley, J. Hausman, and R. Nolan. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
39.
McGuire, M.1990. The revolution in international security. Challenge33:4-10.
40.
Morrison, A. , and K. Roth. 1992. The regional solution: An alternative to globalization. Transnational Corporations1:37-55.
41.
Morse, E.1970. The transformation of foreign policies: Modernization, interdependence, and externalization. World Politics22:371-393.
42.
Most, B. , and H. Starr. 1989. Inquiry, logic, and international politics. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
43.
Mueller, J.1988. The essential irrelevance of nuclear weapons: Stability in the postwar world. International Security13:55-79.
44.
Mueller, J. 1989. Retreat from doomsday: The obsolescence of major war. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
45.
Mytelka, L. 1991. Strategic partnerships: States, firms, and international competition. Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
46.
North, D. , and B. Weingast. 1989. Constitutions and commitment: The evolution of institutions concerning public choice in seventeenth-century England. Journal of Economic History49:803-832.
47.
Ohmae, K. 1990. The borderless world: Power and strategy in an interlinked economy. New York: Free Press.
48.
Olson, M.1993. Dictatorship, democracy, and development. American Political Science Review87:567-576.
49.
Oneal, J. , and B. Russett. 1997. The classical liberals were right: Democracy, interdependence, and conflict, 1950-1985. International Studies Quarterly41:267-294.
50.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development . 1992. Technology and the economy: The key relationship. Paris: OECD.
51.
Organski, A. 1958. World politics. New York: Knopf.
52.
Pauly, L. , and S. Reich. 1997. National structures and multinational corporate behavior: Enduring differences in the age of globalization. International Organization51:1-30.
53.
Ray, J.1989. The abolition of slavery and the end of international war. International Organization43:405-440.
54.
Reich, R. 1991. The work of nations. New York: Knopf.
55.
Robinson, R. , and J. Gallagher. 1953. The imperialism of free trade. Economic History Review6:1-15.
56.
Rosecrance, R. 1986. The rise of the trading state: Commerce and conquest in the modern world. New York: Basic Books.
57.
Rosecrance, R.1996. The rise of the virtual state. Foreign Affairs75:45-61.
58.
Rosenau, J. 1990. Turbulence in world politics: A theory of change and continuity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
59.
Russell, R. , and C. Russell. 1992. An examination of the effects of organizational norms, organizational structure, and environmental uncertainty on entrepreneurial strategy. Journal of Management18:639-656.
60.
Russett, B.1963. The calculus of deterrence. Journal of Conflict Resolution7:97-109.
61.
Russett, B. 1993. Grasping the democratic peace: Principles for a post-cold war world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
62.
Singer, M. , and A. Wildavsky. 1993. The real world order: Zones of peace, zones of turmoil. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
63.
Stone, R. 1996. Satellites and commissars: Strategy and conflict in the politics of Soviet Bloc trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
64.
Terpstra, V. , and B. Simonin. 1993. Strategic alliances in the triad: An exploratory study. Journal of International Marketing1:125-136.
65.
Ullman, R. 1991. Securing Europe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
66.
U.N. Conference on Trade and Development . 1993. World investment report 1993: Transnational corporations and integrated international production. Geneva: United Nations.
67.
U.N. Conference on Trade and Development . 1994. World investment report 1994: Transnational corporations, employment, and the workplace. Geneva: United Nations.
68.
U.N. Conference on Trade and Development . 1995. World investment report 1995: Transnational corporations and competitiveness. Geneva: United Nations.
69.
U.N. Conference on Trade and Development . 1996. World investment report 1996: Investment, trade, and international policy arrangements. Geneva: United Nations.
70.
Van Evera, Stephen. 1984. Cause of war. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
71.
Van Evera, Stephen . 1990-91. Primed for peace: Europe after the cold war. International Security15:7-57.
72.
Van Evera, Stephen . 1998. Offense, defense, and the causes of war. International Security22:5-43.
73.
Vernon, R.1992. Transnational corporations: Where are they coming from, where are they headed?Transnational Corporations1:7-35.
74.
Waltz, K.1993. The emerging structure of international politics. International Security18:44-79.
75.
Wohlforth, W.1994-95. Realism and the end of the cold war. International Security19:91-129.
76.
Wolf, C. 1987. The costs and benefits of the Soviet empire. In The future of the Soviet empire, edited by H. Rowen and C. Wolf. New York: St. Martin's.
77.
World Bank . 1997. Global economic prospects and the developing countries 1997. Washington, DC: World Bank.
78.
World Trade Organization . 1996. World trade organization annual report 1996. Geneva: WTO.
79.
Zacher, M. 1992. The decaying pillars of the Westphalian temple: Implications for international order and governance. In Governance without government: Order and change in world politics, edited by J. Rosenau and E. Czempiel. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
