The Backlash Effects of Self-Defeating Policies

Abstract This chapter studies the phenomenon of backlash, boomerang, and blowback—referring to the self-defeating consequences when aggressor states often make the mistake of overextending themselves, thereby causing other states to rally against them. It takes up several enigmas from the realist perspective. One persistent phenomenon pertains to the fact that, contrary to its expectation, countries facing the threat from a powerful aggressor state often fail to balance against it or do so only belatedly and inadequately. These countries also often try to pass the buck on balancing against an aggressor state and even sometimes bandwagon with it. Yet aggressor states’ ambitions often cause them to commit the error of overreaching, hence producing self-inflicted wounds leading to their eventual defeat and demise. Their insatiable appetite to “have it all” also accounts for the phenomenon of conflict escalation and enlargement.