Brinkmanship

Brinkmanship (or brinksmanship) is the practice of trying to get a good outcome by pushing events to the brink of active conflict. This succeeds by causing the opponent to back down and make concessions. If they do not back down, they risk engaging in a conflict that would not be good for either side.  That might be done with diplomacy. It is done by making the others think that one party will do something bad rather than concede.  The tactic occurs in international politics, foreign policy, labor relations, modern military strategy, terrorism, and high-stakes litigation. 

The term is mainly associated with US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, from 1953 to 1956 during the Eisenhower administration. Dulles tried to prevent aggression by the Soviet Union by warning that the cost might be massive retaliation against Soviet targets.

References

Category:Tactics
Category:Diplomacy