Summary/Abstract:

The rapid proliferation and growing sophistication of aerospace weapons—rockets, missiles, and drones—have altered the landscape of warfare. The influence of these weapons on the battlefield is felt profoundly, yet the mechanism of provocation and coercion by which these weapons alter the will of the adversary is poorly understood. In Bombing to Provoke, I contend that it is not what aerospace weapons physically do but how they emotionally affect and what they prompt decisionmakers in target states to do in response that matters for understanding their provocative and coercive effect. Aerospace weapons provoke by weaponizing fear and triggering a sense of defenselessness among the targeted population and decisionmakers. The fears and political vulnerabilities provoke the target state to divert substantial military resources to redress the threat. If the target state is unable to extinguish the threat, it may be coerced to offer political concessions.

Bio:

Jaganath Sankaran is an Assistant Professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. He spent the first four years of his career as a defense scientist with the Indian Missile R&D establishment. He has held fellowships at the US Air War College, the Congressional Budget Office, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Dr. Sankaran has served on study groups of the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) and the American Physical Society (APS) Panel on Public Affairs examining missile defenses and strategic stability. He has published in International Security, Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of Strategic Studies, Journal of East Asian Studies, Asian Security, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Arms Control Today, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and other outlets.