ABSTRACT
The introduction first sets the scene by providing two current and ostensibly similar cases which are, however, strikingly different in their outcomes, thus presenting the reader with the very empirical puzzle that this book seeks to solve (i.e., cross-national variations in defence offsets). Next, it clarifies the magnitude of the offset phenomenon, before then discussing its wide-ranging economic, security and political implications. This chapter then illustrates the gap in the extant scholarly literature, and most especially, the lack of a theory or any systematic analysis. Following this, it presents the liberal-rationalist theory of defence offsets and discusses the research design and the methods employed by this book, as well as the data used herein, before then providing a concise overview of the chapters.
