The Pros And Cons Of Deterrence

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At the end of the Cold War, threat actors emerged and deterrence became a doubted option of security. Now, adversaries lacked a variety of resources that assisted them in retaliation, from land to money and weaponry. Motivations are often different for each adversary, and their actions are not typically well thought out. This makes any attempt to dissuade attackers nearly impossible. There has also been a notable change in target choice, as actors are progressively choosing soft targets over hard ones to gain opportunity. Due to this significant change, the “burden of deterrence has shifted downward from government to the private and public parties being targeted” (Wasson, 2). This requires fundamental changes in both deterrence methods and …show more content…

While some have challenged this idea by attempting to provide alternate methods of deterrence, the constant effort to avoid conflict has focused on dissuasion as the singular method of deterrence. Due to this belief, people have started to question whether deterrence is an effective method of dissuasion in adversaries who are lacking in the resources previously mentioned. The 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States had the same opinion, stating that “traditional concepts of deterrence will not work against a terrorist enemy whose avowed tactics are wanton destruction and the targeting of innocents; whose so-called soldiers seek martyrdom in death and whose most potent protection is statelessness” (United States & Bush, 15). Instead, it called for a strategy that would “defeat, deny, diminish and defend” rather than ‘deter’ (Wasson, …show more content…

To do this, one must manipulate the motivation and the opportunity of the adversary. Motivation is the source of the adversary’s actions, and opportunity is the belief that the adversary is capable of carrying out the action. In order to have opportunity, the actor must also believe that he has the proper knowledge for an action. This would be identified as information regarding the targets, while capability would be described with skills, equipment and weapons. Both knowledge and capability are important factors that will influence an adversary in his/her

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