10. Jonathan D. Kirshner, Government
Jonathan Kirshner
Appeasing Bankers: Financial Caution on the Road to War (Princeton University Press, 2007). Kirshner uses historical case studies to demonstrate how domestic financial interests and international financial markets can shape and constrain states' foreign policy strategies and influence decisions about war and peace. Through examples that include interwar France, the Falklands crisis, the Spanish-American War, interwar Japan, and the United States during the Cold War, Kirshner argues that financial institutions dread war or policies that risk war. His historical, economic, and political analyses show that the financial world values economic stability and peace, while international political crises and war threaten stability. States that pursue appeasement when assertiveness is valid are usually appeasing their bankers. The book reveals the relationship between economics and security in international relations, as well as the realities that shape state strategy in a world of global financial markets.