Trusting Enemies

by Nicholas J Wheeler

How can two enemies transform their relationship into a cooperative one? The starting point for this book is that the discipline of International Relations has not done a good job of answering this question, and the reason for this is that the concept of trust - and the possibility of building new trusting relationships between enemies - has been marginalized by the discipline. The author argues that to understand how enemies cooperate, we need to focus on the potential for building trusting relationships between state leaders. The book argues that it is forging personal relationships of trust across the enemy divide that hold out the best chance of breaking down the 'enemy images' that fuel security competition.

Previous theorizing about trust-building in the discipline of International Relations has focused on the state and individual levels. Nicholas Wheeler argues for a new level of analysis - the interpersonal level - and shows how the building of trust between leaders changes the possibilities for cooperation between states. He shows how the process of interpersonal bonding between two leaders - especially through face-to-face diplomacy - can lead to what he calls a 'leap-to-trust'. He develops his argument through three detailed case the interaction between US and Soviet leaders Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev; the relationship between Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the context of the Lahore peace process; and the failed attempts by Barack Obama to build a trusting relationship with Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The book represents the most authoritative assessment to date of trust research in International Relations and it develops a theory that explains how interpersonal trusting relationships become possible at the highest levels of diplomacy; relationships that in transforming enemy images reconstitute the possibilities of state action in conflict situations.

372 pages, Hardcover

Published May 15, 2018

Reviews

[Alexandros Potapidis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicholas Wheeler became a distinguished academic scholar thanks to his first book, Saving Strangers, Humanitarian Intervention in International Society. In Trusting Enemies he follows the same pattern of introducing his theory and then presenting three case studies where the theory worked or did not work due to the lack of the requirements surrounding his theory. The book is an essential addition to the trust research agenda on the international relations level and explores the conditions under which two states that have enemy relations can enter into cooperative modes. His focus diverges from the realist perception of the state as an uniform and unitary entity and argues for the prominent role of individuals (in this case state leaders) as actors who shape global politics.

His main argument states that the face to face interaction between leaders whose states have hostile relations can lead to a bonded trust relationship where peaceful signals can be accurately interpreted and peaceful solution advanced. For this to happen many conditions will have to be met and can be only applied in certain conditions. There should be two states who have enemy perceptions about each other and they have undergone a tense hostile period where situations have escalated,whether it is arms race, nuclear weapons development or military technology innovations, such as the SDI. The leaders of the two states should have several face to face encounters, they should not approach each other in a bad faith mentality, should not inhabit an enemy image about each other, should be empathetic, exercise security dilemma sensibility, have peaceful intentions, acquire each other’s index of trustworthiness, share a meal, a walk in the woods, or speak the same language in order to be able to communicate without translators. Once all of the above have been achieved then trust can be developed and peaceful relations established. This is a very general picture of how trust developers and even though it has many merits, it can only work in a laboratory-like conditions. The parameters are so wide and innumerable that the success is extremely hard to be achieved.

Nicholas Wheeler admits that even when there is a trusting relationship between the two leaders,there are still two problems to overcome. One is the ability to convince the domestic audience that the enemy should be regarded as a friend and even when this is achieved, the problem of future uncertainty arises. Donald Trump undid many policies of his predecessor, such as the Iran deal and the Paris climate change agreement. Notwithstanding these problems there is still chance for success and if this means avoiding a nuclear holocaust then trust based approaches should be tried in any form.