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A Social Psychological Approach to Enduring Rivalries
Author(s) -
Thies Cameron G.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/0162-895x.00259
Subject(s) - rivalry , competition (biology) , socialization , focus (optics) , bridge (graph theory) , process (computing) , social relation , social psychology , psychology , sociology , positive economics , political science , economics , computer science , medicine , ecology , physics , macroeconomics , optics , biology , operating system
The recent scholarly work on the concept of enduring rivalries offers a promising way to examine strategic interaction among dyads of states over extended periods of time. A focus on rivalry, and on the mechanisms that provide for such interaction, may offer a way to bridge existing theories of international relations that rely exclusively on structure or process. Unfortunately, the potential for theory‐building has not been fully realized because research into rivalry has tended to be inductive. This paper seeks to rectify that problem by situating the rivalry concept within a social psychological approach to international relations. The rivalry concept is appropriately located in a theoretical approach that views the international system as a social system where actors are conditioned by mechanisms of competition and socialization.