Deterrence

Convincing an adversary that the costs of taking an action will outweigh its benefits, so the adversary chooses not to act — distinct from compellence (persuading an adversary to reverse or stop an action already underway) and from assurance (convincing a partner you will stand behind them). In nuclear strategy specifically, the theory that nuclear weapons prevent war by making war suicidal; critiqued by Daniel Ellsberg and others as relying on assumptions about rationality that near-misses have repeatedly contradicted.

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