The Escalation Trap: Robert Pape’s Perspective on What Great Powers Should Be Concerned About

BIPSS Research Assistant Nazmul Islam Mahmud reiterates UChicago Professor Robert A. Pape’s perspective on how Great Powers are entrapped in the escalation trap. This lens on escalation focuses on the denial-versus-punishment dynamic, the logic of asymmetric resolve, and the constructed nature of credibility. That signals when and how escalation goes off the rails, and what conditions decision-makers must also pay attention to before they take any escalatory step.