How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00162_3.x |
| Date | 01 February 2012 |
| Author | Alexander Kleibrink |
| Published date | 01 February 2012 |
During the International Polar Year (2007–08), thousands
of scientists collaborated closely without regard to
nationality or national borders as they sought to under-
stand a region that is acutely susceptible to climate
change. In March 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton spoke of the need for Arctic countries to work
together: ‘We need all hands on deck because there is a
huge amount to do, and not much time to do it.’
In this important book, Charles Emmerson of the Royal
Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) pro-
vides a comprehensive but nuanced overview of the
political, economic and legal issues. From Greenland, a
Danish dependency just one oil strike away from inde-
pendence, to Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago with a
Russian town and coalmine – Emmerson has been there,
and writes beautifully about it.
He is particularly strong on the Russian dimension of
Arctic politics. In the past two decades, Russia has under-
gone deep reaching change. It is a member of the G8
and a soon to be member of the WTO. Its largest trading
partner is the European Union, which is composed mostly
of NATO states. In 2009, Russian military spending was
less than one tenth that of the US (US$53.3 billion versus
US$661 billion) and, in 2010, the two countries concluded
a deep reaching nuclear arms reduction treaty.
At the same time, Russia is the preeminent Arctic
country, with fully 20 per cent of its GDP coming from
the North. And while the Kremlin is committed to coop-
eration as a means of accessing the capital and technol-
ogy needed to develop offshore oil and gas, some
politicians – most notably Chilingarov – are keen to
exploit competitive attitudes about the Arctic that
remain deeply rooted within the Russian national psy-
che. As a result, the future history of the Arctic will be
determined in large part by Russian domestic politics.
In just a few years, the Arctic has been thrust into the
centre of international politics. This rapid development
has caught most journalists and scholars unprepared
and ill equipped to understand, analyze and explain the
profound changes underway. Not so Emmerson, whose
brilliant book will set them straight. Michael Byers
Michael Byers is Canada Research Chair in Global Politics
and International Law, University of British Columbia, and
author of Who Owns the Arctic?
How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable
Peace by Charles A., Kupchan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2010. 442 pp., £19.90 hardcover, 978
0691142654
There are good reasons why Kupchan has already
collected very positive reviews for his latest book. He
offers a sequential description of how stable peace
between states comes about by analysing various case
studies that illustrate the different stages of peace. While
his sequential approach is based on an insightful combi-
nation of the state of the art literature, his approach is
eclectic which he admits himself. Yet, his goal is not to
develop an overarching theory on when and why states
establish durable peaceful relations. Rather his aim is to
offer ‘a generalized account of the sequential process
that leads to stable peace and the conditions that facili-
tate its onset’ (p. 68). Theoretically, he departs from the
English School and the literature on international society.
But he draws on all three main schools of IR (realism, lib-
eralism and constructivism) when he introduces four
phases that are at the onset of stable peace. In his view,
all these theories offer important insights into the logics
underpinning each phase: (1) Unilateral accommodation
(realist school): a state takes the first step towards recon-
ciliation because of strategic necessity to ensure its own
survival, not as a sign of good will. (2) Reciprocal
restraint (realist school): after this first step a tit for tat
begins in which both states show benign intentions to
reciprocate attempts at furthering reconciliation (conces-
sions on crucial issues like physical security and territorial
integrity). (3) Societal integration (liberal school): those
groups benefiting from reconciliation and peaceful rela-
tions begin to openly support the efforts of governing
elites (bureaucrats; military leadership etc.) (4) Narrative
generation (constructivist school): intensified and peace-
ful interactions advance trust between both states which
may lead to the creation of joint narratives supporting
the newly built amity between two states. Once states
have passed these crucial phases, they reach what Kup-
chan calls the ‘stages of evolution’, a continuum that
begins with rapprochement and in some cases pro-
gresses via a security community all the way to a union.
Before he enters into the broad variety of studies that
position country pairs on this continuum, Kupchan intro-
duces three antecedent and necessary conditions that
make stable peace more likely: Institutionalised restraint
in the political system, compatibility of social orders, and
cultural commonality.
Following this introduction, Kupchan sets out to survey
a wide array of case studies from all over the world that
confirm his framework. He does not explain in great
detail his case selection, but mostly chooses on the pro-
gress towards peaceful relations or the absence thereof.
He nicely contrasts cases where stable peace emerged
with those where it failed. In sum, the cases he describes
show great knowledge of different countries. And the
lack of justification for his case is compensated by his
rather large sample of 20 cases. His book makes an
important contribution to peace studies and it provides
insights into less known cases from Asia and the Arab
world. One drawback is his eclectic approach which
Reviews
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ª2012 London School of Economics and Political Science and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Global Policy (2012) 3:1
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