Examines how some of the worst conflicts are embedded in relational webs of global and regional rivalries.

Who your friends are shapes who your enemies are and vice versa. Starting with this premise, Mixed Blessings takes up two related research questions: how does a state's relational web of security assistance (amity) influence its relationships of threat (enmity), and how does a state's relational web of enmity influence its relationships of amity? Drawing on theories of alliance politics and deterrence theory, Kyle Beardsley uncovers the causes and consequences of security assistance through quantitative examination of the networked and relational nature of international politics. Qualitative assessments of the end of the Cold War-with particular attention to the proxy wars in Central America and Southern Africa-and recent developments in the Indo-Pacific further illustrate the mechanisms in play while also seeding the ground for ongoing inquiry. The lessons learned from the analyses directly bear on questions of American statecraft and the collapsing liberal international order.