Brinkmanship
the technique or practice of maneuvering a dangerous situation to the limits of tolerance or safety in order to secure the greatest advantage, especially by creating diplomatic crises.
Contemporary Examples
Wall Street Is Starting to Worry About a Potential Government Shutdown Daniel Gross September 26, 2013
Can Washington Stop the Next Shutdown? Eleanor Clift December 2, 2013
Too Few Military Threats? Trita Parsi May 21, 2012
Please Shut Up Gershom Gorenberg March 11, 2012
Senate Raises Debt Ceiling After GOP ‘Dysfunction’ Ben Jacobs February 11, 2014
Too Few Military Threats? Trita Parsi May 21, 2012
The GOP’s Uncertainty Strategy Is Killing the Recovery Kirsten Powers October 17, 2013
noun
the art or practice of pressing a dangerous situation, esp in international affairs, to the limit of safety and peace in order to win an advantage from a threatening or tenacious foe
n.
The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you cannot master it, you inevitably get into war. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost.
The quote was widely criticized by the Eisenhower Administration’s opponents, and the first attested use of brinkmanship seems to have been in such a context, a few weeks after the magazine appeared, by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson criticizing Dulles for “boasting of his brinkmanship, … the art of bringing us to the edge of the nuclear abyss.”
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