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| 1 |
ID:
160809
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Cod Wars, three militarized interstate disputes between the UK and Iceland (1958–1961, 1972–1973, 1975–1976), have often been presented as an egregious exception to the liberal peace. There are, however, few comprehensive analyses of the liberal dimensions of the Cod Wars. This article comprehensively analyses the ways in which each of the Cod Wars is consistent or inconsistent with the liberal peace. I find that while the supposedly pacifying factors of the liberal peace – democracy, trade and institutional ties – effectively made the disputes more contentious, they also ensured that escalation to actual war was impossible.
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| 2 |
ID:
153428
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| Summary/Abstract |
Three things are puzzling about the Cod Wars, three militarized interstate disputes spread over 20 years. First, they occurred between two democratic NATO allies, members of a Western security community. Second, Iceland came close to withdrawing its NATO membership and closing the US base on Icelandic soil, which would have adversely affected the balance of power in the North Atlantic and jeopardized Iceland’s core security interests. Third, Iceland, a microstate, won each of these disputes. Historians and political scientists have consequently found it problematic to account for these puzzling disputes. This study proposes a neoclassical realist account for the occurrence and outcomes of the Cod Wars. I argue that the disputes occurred due to (i) powerful domestic pressures on statesmen to escalate and (ii) elite miscalculation. As the disputes escalated and Iceland’s Western alignment was put at greater risk, statesmen in both countries, mindful of the dangers of realignment, were able to resolve the conflicts in the end. The outcomes of the disputes reflect how British statesmen were able to make greater concessions due to weaker domestic constraints than those faced by Icelandic leaders. Iceland therefore reached a highly favorable agreement in all Cod Wars.
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