May

5

The Strategy of Conflict (pdf), by Thomas C. Schelling

At the beginning of the book he says that some ppl just thrive on conflicts - the more the better basically. That is true within corporations as well, everywhere we can see it on world stage.

– THE RETARDED SCIENCE OF INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY

Among diverse theories of conflict—corresponding to the diverse meanings of the word “conflict” — a main dividing line is between those that treat conflict as a pathological state and seek its causes and treatment, and those that take conflict for granted and study the behavior associated with it. Among the latter there is a further division between those that examine the participants in a conflict in all their complexity—with regard to both “rational” and “irrational” behavior, conscious and unconscious, and to motivations as well as to calculations—and those that focus on the more rational, conscious, artful kind of behavior. Crudely speaking, the latter treat conflict as a kind of contest, in which the participants are trying to “win.”


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  1. Oliver WIlson on May 7, 2026 11:22 am

    University of Chicago undergrad here, we were just reading Schelling in our national security class as part of Robert Pape’s curriculum. Not sure how many here are familiar with players in the field, but Pape is fairly famous. Based on his or other professors’ contributions of the UChicago ‘international strategy school,’ where would you gauge they lay on this spectrum? I personally enjoy reading Mearsheimer, I believe he offers meaningful insights into global politics and power divisions.

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