Contagion or intervention: Two views on ‘wider wars’

This article reviews methodologically and substantively the large literature on conflict expansion. It compares and contrasts the two quite different approaches that have been used. One is based on a contagion/diffusion framework that sees war involvement coming from the outside environment. The second is a Realpolitik, rational actor approach that sees involvement in ongoing wars as a result of conscious actions to achieve foreign policy goals. The contagion/ diffusion framework is rejected as fundamentally flawed but which can provide needed modifications to a more Realpolitik perspective.