Of Friends and Foes

Reputations abound in world politics, but we know little about how reputations form and evolve: namely, how do countries form reputations? Do these reputations affect interstate politics in the global arena? In this book, Crescenzi develops a theory of reputation dynamics to help identify when reputations form in ways that affect world politics, both in the realms of international conflict and cooperation. A reputation for honoring one’s obligations in a treaty, for example, canmake a state a more attractive ally; on the other hand, a reputation for war and conflict can triggermore of the same, leading to a cycle of violence that exacerbates security challenges. These processes of cooperation and conflict are linked by a common use of the information held in each state’s reputation. In each case, states use reputational information in an attempt to resolve the uncertainty they face when crafting foreign policy decisions. Crescenzi usesablendof historical andempirical analysis to show how reputations matter in world politics, demonstrating that over time and across the globe, reputations for conflict exacerbate crises, while reputations for cooperation and reliability make future cooperation more likely.