Does Conquest Pay?
The Exploitation of Occupied Industrial Societies
Peter Liberman

Paper | 1998 | $37.50 / £26.95
262 pp. | 6 x 9 | 4 line illus. 26 tables

e-Book | 2001 | $37.50 | ISBN: 978-1-4008-2174-7

Shopping Cart | Reviews | Table of Contents

LEARN MORE ABOUT PRINCETON'S SPECIAL SALE

Can foreign invaders successfully exploit industrial economies? Since control over economic resources is a key source of power, the answer affects the likelihood of aggression and how strenuously states should counter it. The resurgence of nationalism has led many policymakers and scholars to doubt that conquest still pays. But, until now, the "cumulativity" of industrial resources has never been subjected to systematic analysis.

Does Conquest Pay? demonstrates that expansion can, in fact, provide rewards to aggressor nations. Peter Liberman argues that invaders can exploit industrial societies for short periods of time and can maintain control and economic performance over the long term. This is because modern societies are uniquely vulnerable to coercion and repression. Hence, by wielding a gun in one hand and offering food with the other, determined conquerors can compel collaboration and suppress resistance. Liberman's argument is supported by several historical case studies: Germany's capture of Belgium and Luxembourg during World War I and of nearly all of Europe during World War II; France's seizure of the Ruhr in 1923-24; the Japanese Empire during 1910-45; and Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe in 1945-89.

Does Conquest Pay? suggests that the international system is more war-prone than many optimists claim. Liberman's findings also contribute to debates about the stability of empires and other authoritarian regimes, the effectiveness of national resistance strategies, and the sources of rebellious collective action.

Reviews:

"An outstanding piece of multilingual historical and economic research in the service of social science."--Foreign Affairs

"This close study of five major occupations (including the Nazi, Japanese, and Soviet empires) concludes that conquest pays handsomely. The costs are low; the benefits potentially large. This is a valuable analysis, of significance for strategic study of the 20th century, and of disturbing implications for architects of the current international system."--The Virginia Quarterly Review of History

Table of Contents:

	List of Figures and Tables
	Preface and Acknowledgments
Ch. 1	Does Conquest Pay?	3
Ch. 2	When Does Conquest Pay?	18
Ch. 3	Nazi-Occupied Western Europe, 1940-1944	36
Ch. 4	Belgium and Luxembourg, 1914-1918	69
Ch. 5	The Ruhr-Rhineland, 1923-1924	87
Ch. 6	The Japanese Empire, 1910-1945	99
Ch. 7	The Soviet Empire, 1945-1989	120
Ch. 8	The Spoils of Conquest	146
	Notes	159
	Works Cited	209
	Index	243

Series:

• Princeton Studies in International History and Politics
  G. John Ikenberry and Marc Trachtenberg

Subject Areas:

• Economics
• European History
• Political Science and International Relations

Shopping Cart:

Special online sale for customers in the U.S. & Canada only

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $37.50 ISBN13: 978-0-691-00242-2

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £26.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-00242-2

Our e-Book editions are available from many of these online vendors

Prices subject to change without notice

File created: 10/18/2009

Questions and comments to: webmaster@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press