This volume is a collection of some of the most influential essays by Prof. Jack Levy on the causes of interstate war.

1. Introduction 2. Balances and Balancing: Concepts, Propositions, and Research Design 3. Power Transition Theory and the Rise of China 4. Declining Power and the Preventive Motivation for War 5. The Offensive/Defensive Balance of Military Technology: A Theoretical and Historical Analysis 6. The Diversionary Theory of War: A Critique 7. Misperception and the Causes of War: Theoretical Linkages and Analytical Problems 8. Learning and Foreign Policy: Sweeping a Conceptual Minefield 9. Prospect Theory, Rational Choice, and International Relations 10. Unanswered Questions and Future Agenda

Jack S. Levy is Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University, USA and a former president of the International Studies Association. He is author of War in the Modern Great Power System 1495-1975 (1983), The Arc of War (with W. Thompson, 2011) and The Causes of War (with W. Thompson, 2011), and editor of four books, including Explaining War and Peace (with G. Geertz, Routledge 2007).