The latest escalation in the Middle East is in many ways the inevitable culmination of a long-simmering rivalry. Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability and Israel’s determination to stop that from happening meant that such an outcome was always in the cards.
But it also provides an example of what scholars of international relations like me refer to as the “commitment trap.” Put simply, the concept is that states and governments feel compelled to continue with a promised course of action, even if doing so might be to their own disadvantage. Think, “if country X doesn’t do Y, we will do Z in response.”
