Is This a Private Fight or Can Anybody Join?

Zachary C. Shirkey is an Assistant Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, CUNY, USA

'Existing work shows how interstate conflicts often spread beyond initial disputants, yet we still lack satisfactory answers to why states chose to join ongoing wars or abstain. This insightful book highlights how unexpected events during conflicts influence states’ decisions to join or leave conflicts and provides a useful framework for understanding the dynamics of war and conflict expansion.' Kristian Skrede Gleditsch, University of Essex, UK and International Peace Research Institute, Norway 'Rigoureux dans sa méthodologie, l’ouvrage de Shirkey s’inscrit dans une lignée de travaux consacrés à l’étude quantitative des confl its et des multiples questions s’y rattachant. Mêlant de manière équilibrée quantitatif et qualitatif, l’auteur tente d’apporter une réponse à une interrogation précise qu’il refuse, en bon rationaliste, de laisser au hasard... (Rigorous in its methodology, Shirkey's book belongs to a line of works on the quantitative study of conflicts and the numerous questions linked to them. Combining quantitative and qualitative research in a balanced way, the author attempts to provide an answer to a specific question he refuses, as a good rationalist, to leave to chance...)' Etudes Internationales

• Chapter 1 The Puzzle of Why States Join Ongoing Wars; Chapter 2 Previous Findings and a New Theory of Joining; Chapter 3 Statistical Analysis of the Spread of War; Chapter 4 The Crimean War; Chapter 5 The First World War; Chapter 6 The Franco-Prussian War; Chapter 7 Joining Since 1945; Chapter 8 Conclusions, Extensions, and Avenues for Future Research;