To Agree or Not to Agree

Why were the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union able to negotiate a series of arms control agreements despite the deep and important differences in their interests during the Cold War? Lisa A. Baglione considers a variety of explanations for the successes—and failures—of these negotiations drawn from international relations theories. Focusing on the goals and strategies of individual leaders—and their ability to make these the goals and strategies of their nation—the author develops a nuanced understanding that better explains the outcome of these negotiations. Baglione then tests her explanation in a consideration of negotiations surrounding the banning of above-ground nuclear tests, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks of the 1970s, the negotiations for the limitation of intermediate-range nuclear forces in the 1980s, and the last negotiations between the Americans and the disintegrating Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991. How these great rivals were able to negotiate significant arms control agreements not only will shed light on international relations during an important period of history but will help us understand how such agreements might develop in the post-Cold War period, when arms proliferation has become a serious problem.

This book will appeal to scholars of international relations and arms control as well as those interested in bargaining and international negotiations and contemporary military history.

Lisa A. Baglione is Assistant Professor of Political Science, St. Joseph's University.

Praise / Awards

• "The most valuable contribution of To Agree or Not to Agree is simply to call our attention back to the importance of leadership. Journalistic accounts and popular histories of arms control usually focus heavily on the U.S. president and Soviet general secretary. But the leading theories of cooperation and grand strategy in international relations emphasize the international or domestic system, or the role of culture or organizations, thereby neglecting the role of individual leaders. Baglione's study is a worthy attempt to correct this imbalance."
  —Jeffrey W. Knopf, Naval Postgraduate School, American Political Science Review, June 2001
  
• "A valuable contribution to the arms control policy literature likely to be of strong interest to graduate students and specialists in the field."
  —R. A. Strong, Washington & Lee University, Choice, February 2000