Is growing economic interdependence between superpowers or increased opportunities for conflict and war? Liberals argue that the benefits of trade give nations an incentive to stay peacefully. Realists argue that trade forces nations to struggle for raw materials and vital markets.

Far from the senseless and unrealistic argument, "economic interdependence and war" chart a dynamic theory of the expectations that emerge under specific conditions among states that trade will reduce or increase the risk of conflict between nations. With a broad view of the two-century cases from the Napoleonic and Crimean wars to the more recent Cold War crises, Dale Copeland shows that when leaders have positive expectations of a future business environment, they want to stay in peace to secure economic benefits that strengthen power over the long term the long.

But when these expectations become negative, leaders are likely to fear losing access to raw materials and markets, giving them more incentives to start crises to protect their business interests. The theory of trade expectations carries important implications for the understanding of Sino-US relations since 1985 and on the direction that these relations are likely to occupy over the next two decades.

Economic interdependence and war provide a new overview of global historical and contemporary politics and the actual nature of democratic versus economic peace.

I want that book.