Publication Date
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Liam Anderson (Committee Chair), Bruce LaForse (Committee Member), Vaughn Shannon (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
The literature proposes that bipolar systems and international systems with nuclear weapons will not have significant issues with alliance pathologies. But are alliance pathologies really insignificant in Bipolar Systems? The problem is that the literature only describes bipolar systems with nuclear weapons, so one cannot discern whether bipolarity or nuclear weapons alone are responsible for the insignificance of these alliance pathologies. So to solve this problem, this paper will examine a bipolar system in Classical Greece during the time of the Peloponnesian War to isolate any possible influence that nuclear weapons may have on alliance pathologies. This will be done using qualitative analysis in the form of an in-depth case study to focus on a total of six allies from the two superpowers - Athens and Sparta. The findings show that alliance pathologies significantly impact alliances in bipolar systems, which better clarifies the role between polarity, nuclear weapons, and alliance pathologies.
Page Count
137
Department or Program
Department of Political Science
Year Degree Awarded
2016
Copyright
Copyright 2016, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
