Akan Malici

Discord and Collaboration between Allies

Why did France and Great Britain cooperate in Operation Enduring Freedom after September 11, 2001, and fail to achieve cooperation in Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003? Operational code analysis is used to test the threat-cooperation proposition that common perceptions of a security externality and common prescriptions toward it lead to cooperation, whereas an absence of common perceptions or prescriptions leads to a lack of cooperation. Operational code analysis is well suited for this task because it conceptualizes the “self in situation,” with the self having diagnostic propensities about a security externality and prescriptive propensities toward this situation. An examination of these propensities in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom lends strong support for the threat-cooperation proposition.

Reagan and Gorbachev: Altercasting at the End of the Cold War

Observing the evolution of international relations theory, one scholar wrote “Students coming of age in the post-cold war era seem to grasp intuitively that the study of international relations … is ultimately about human beings, and that the way in which human beings engage in such relations …” is difficult to comprehend through the lenses of theories that dominated throughout the cold war era (Gaddis 1992/1993, 55). Conventional international relations theories, such as neorealism and institutionalism, traditionally reject the impact of ideational variables on politics (Keohane and Martin 2003; Waltz 1979). By the end of the cold war it was evident that these theories were in trouble as they had to face an increasing number of empirical anomalies. The reason they were in trouble appeared to be a denial of ideational variables and the importance of leaders in the conduct of world politics.

Role Theory and ‘Rogue States’

At the latest since the end of the Cold War, ‘rogue states’ have come to be seen as a major threat to the security of the United States specifically and the West generally. Indeed, ‘rogue states’ are often viewed as even more threatening than the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The reason for such heightened fear is that ‘rogue states’ allegedly do not play by the rules of rationality and are, therefore, difficult to deter from using weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Related is the fear that they would contribute to the proliferation of WMD. Finally, there is the strong concern that ‘rogue states’ are engaging in the sponsorship of international terrorism (Tanter 1998).