How To Start A War: Eight Cases of Strategic Provocation
Journal: Narrative and Conflict Explorations in Theory and Practice
Year: 2016

A leader intent on starting a war must develop a compelling narrative for their domestic constituency and the international community. For some, strategic provocation – defined here as the use of deceptive tactics to instigate violence against one's own state – has been a reliable means of initiating war under the guise of self-defense. Eight cases of strategic provocation reveal a basic pattern of its use, and some possibly unwelcome truths about state leaders' methods. As international institu