How long does it take to read The Origins of Alliances?
The Origins of Alliances by Stephen M. Walt takes about 5 hours 53 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 53 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1983. 321 pages, about 88,275 words.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 49 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 53 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 41 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
How are alliances made? In this book, Stephen M. Walt makes a significant contribution to this topic, surveying theories of the origins of international alliances and identifying the most important causes of security cooperation between states. In addition, he proposes a fundamental change in the present conceptions of alliance systems. Contrary to traditional balance-of-power theories, Walt shows that states form alliances not simply to balance power but in order to balance threats. Walt begins by outlining five general hypotheses about the causes of alliances. Drawing upon diplomatic history and a detailed study of alliance formation in the Middle East between 1955 and 1979, he demonstrates that states are more likely to join together against threats than they are to ally themselves with threatening powers. Walt also examines the impact of ideology on alliance preferences and the role of foreign aid and transnational penetration. His analysis show, however, that these motives for alignment are relatively less important. In his conclusion, he examines the implications of "balance of threat" for U.S. foreign policy. -- Publisher description.
Subjects: Politics and government, Alliances, International relations, Foreign relations, Middle east, politics and government, Middle east, foreign relations
