ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to discern what factors makes states more likely to hide or to bandwagon if they opt not to balance. Walt, in his Balance of Threat theory, argues states bandwagon primarily to protect themselves from a threat, while Schweller suggests states bandwagon because they are revisionist and bandwagoning offers them a chance to pick up spoils. Bandwagoning, as opposed to hiding, does alter the value of common defense relative to the challenger since bandwagoners contribute military assets to the revisionist side. For bandwagoners primarily driven by their own revisionism this is an unalloyed good. Bandwagoning states need much of the existing order to be upset for them to obtain spoils. Thus, a challenge which does not appear likely to alter the status quo in dramatic ways does not hold out much hope for significant rewards for bandwagoning.
