This book explains how Louis XIV survived his bid for European hegemony unscathed while other aspiring hegemons in modern history suffered catastrophic defeats. It argues that Louis employed a powerful coalition-breaking strategy unique to him and lays out the implications of Louis XIV’s unique case for today’s security competitions.
How Louis XIV Survived His Hegemonic Bid: The Lessons of the Sun King’s War Termination (2025)
Motin examines the intricate relationship between the rise of new powers in bipolar international systems and the policies of the existing great powers; exploring the understudied problem of the rarity of armed emergence after 1945, he proposes a novel theory of why and when states resort to military conquest to become great powers.
The book focuses on Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Vietnam; the few minor powers that attempted to emerge as great powers through force during the Cold War. Geography and existing powers’ reactions are analyzed as the two key factors determining a nation’s attempts at territorial expansion to achieve power on the global political stage. This systematic investigation of previously overlooked cases has profound implications for the scholarship on the rise and fall of great powers.
In a context where territorial conquest is returning worldwide, scholars studying international relations, international security, and strategic studies should find valuable insights in this realist take.
Territorial Expansion and Great Power Behavior During the Cold War: A Theory of Armed Emergence (2025)
Whether states balance against or bandwagon with threatening great powers remains an unsolved problem for international relations theory. One school argues that military power compels minor powers to accommodate threats, while another defends that it elicits balancing instead. With the emergence of potential hegemons in both Asia and Europe — namely China and Russia — understanding state alignment is more urgent than ever. This book shows that bandwagoning has been a rare choice in contemporary Asia and Europe. The only states that chose bandwagoning with China or Russia faced both conflicts with third rivals and low levels of U.S. assistance. Going further, I divide bandwagoning between full alignment, survival accommodation, and profit accommodation. Bandwagoners choose among these three options based on the severity of the threat posed by the potential hegemon, the intensity of third conflicts, and the level of U.S. assistance. I test this novel theory against three European (Armenia, Belarus, and Serbia) and four Asian (Cambodia, Myanmar, North Korea, and Pakistan) cases. This study is the first to provide an exhaustive and compelling explanation of bandwagoning fully compatible with neorealism and adds to the balancing-bandwagoning debate. Beyond scholarly implications, this research’s findings offer advice for policymakers concerned with the changing balance of power in Asia and Europe and how to counter China and Russia’s influence.
Bandwagoning in International Relations: China, Russia, and Their Neighbors (2024)