The Psychology of Coercion

This paper examines a model for thinking about coercion that explains airpower’s role in achieving national objectives. Coercion is the use of power to achieve objectives, not by imposing the desired conditions upon an adversary, but rather by convincing the adversary to accept and implement those conditions as a negotiated solution to a confrontation. The foundation of coercion is the adversary’s decisionmaking process, and most theories of coercion rely on a rational model that weighs costs, benefits, and expectations for success. Prospect theory provides a broad and intuitively appealing perspective on coercion, one that demands we consider the alternatives the adversary faces when we ask him to give up a course of action. Additionally, it incorporates the concept of risk, and thereby attempts to account for the variety of risk-taking and conservative behavior we see in conflicts throughout history. The central proposition is that how decisionmakers frame problems guides the decisions they make. A prospect theory model of airpower coercion is developed here that defines framing, decision parameters, alternatives of continuing action or acquiescing to demands, and airpower linkages.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.