English Explanatory Dictionary

Thucydides trap

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An apparent tendency towards war when an emerging power threatens to displace an existing great power as a regional or international hegemon.

Pronunciation

/θjuːˈsɪdɪdiːz tɹæp/

Word forms

Thucydides trap Thucydides traps Thucydides' trap

Etymology

An allusion to the ancient Athenian historian and military general Thucydides, who posited that the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta had been inevitable because of Spartan fears of the growth of Athenian power. Coined by American political scientist Graham T. Allison.

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