ABSTRACT
Coercion or the use of threats to influence another’s conduct is a ubiquitous phenomenon in social and political intercourse. Activities as diverse as childrearing, controlling crime and nuclear strategy involve an element of coercion. This chapter considers coercion as a distinctive type of strategy, in which the intention is to use threat to pressurize another actor to do something against their wishes, or not to do something that they intended to. The chapter will
consider the different forms coercion can take in terms of the objective being pursued, the methods used, and the capacity of the target for counter-coercion. It will also consider how strategies of coercion could influence the relationship between the protagonists from a long-term perspective.
