Threatening War

This chapter examines the rhetorical problems of “coercive diplomacy,” especially in conditions when rhetors are motivated to engage in hyperbole and threat inflation. Rhetors hoping to provoke a war may be tempted to engage in threat inflation to characterize a situation open to diplomatic resolution as obviously and necessarily a casus belli. At the same time, rhetors who don’t want war may adopt a bellicose and irrational posture simply for short-term political gain.