U.S. Mexican War and Explaining Theories of International Conflict

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U.S. – Mexican War and Explaining Theories of International Conflict
The United States and Mexico went to war between 1846 and 1848. The war was an essential event for both sides that participated in the war, as Mexico lost almost half of its territory to the United States, and the United States became a political super power. Two theories will be analyzed and applied to this specific case to determine whether or not they can be used to explain the conflict known as the U.S.- Mexican war. The economic interdependence theory and the deterrence theory and their assumptions will be the two theories examined in this paper. This war between Mexico and the United States is a prime example to study because many theories that explain the causes of conflict can be applied to this specific case. However, in this paper only two theories will be applied.
The economic interdependence theory branches off of a more broad theory, the interdependence theory. In this theory, interdependence refers to the mutual dependence between countries. Mutual dependence requires countries to be highly sensitive and vulnerable to each other, where Keohane and Nye (1977) defines sensitivity as the degree to which countries are affected by the actions of others, and vulnerability as the degree to which countries can protect themselves from events that occur somewhere else that may be potentially costly. (Keohane and Nye). This theory claims that relationships between countries that are built on interdependence are costly to break and therefore interdependence causes a decrease in international conflict. Often times, liberalism is used to link interdependence theory with conflict. Liberalism explains how cooperation can develop and be continued. In this paper ...

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... University Press.
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Hirschman, Albert O., (1982) Rival Interpretations of Market Society; Civilizing, Destructive, or Feeble? Journal of Economic Literature. 20:1463-1484.
Keohane, Robert O., and Joseph S. Nye (1977) Power & Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Boston: Little Brown.
McMillan, Susan M., (1997) Interdependence and Conflict. Mershon International Studies Review. 40: 33-58.
Pletcher, David M. James K. Polk. PBS. 21 Apr. 2014. .
Quackenbush, Stephen L., (2011) Deterrence Theory: Where do we Stand? Review of International Studies. 37:741-762.
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