Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.1515/cirr-2017-0017
Preserving ‘Great Power Status’: The Complex Case of the British Intervention in the Falklands (1982)
Matthieu Grandpierron
orcid.org/0000-0002-2465-2455
; Ecole Polytechnique, University Paris-Saclay and the University of Ottawa
Abstract
This article aims to examine the importance of an often overlooked argument when it comes to explaining why great powers go to war against a weaker actor. This argument involves great power status considerations. The article argues that states care deeply about their status, especially states which are current and former great powers, and would opt to go to war to preserve this status even if the political and military consequences of such intervention are negligible to objective observers. To illustrate this argument, I will be looking at why the British decided to reestablish their sovereignty over the Falklands in 1982. The empirical part of the analysis is based on formerly secret documents declassified by the British government. This qualitative primary analysis of British documents provides new insights about the crisis and suggests that status considerations played a large role in the British decision to re-conquer the Falklands.
Keywords
great powers; status; recognition; status perception; United Kingdom; Falkland Islands
Hrčak ID:
187703
URI
Publication date:
20.9.2017.
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