History Buffs --

[tailes151]

I'm trying to help a friend figure out the differences and I can't for the life of me do it.

Is brinkmanship a threat and MAD basically an unspoken agreement that no country will act on their threats based on the results it would cause?

 

[Linflas]

Dunno if this is the correct answer but the Cuban missile crisis is the premier example of brinksmanship and MAD is what ultimately kept us from actually lobbing the nukes at one another. Brinksmanship was the political manuevering that took place between the Soviet block and the west and MAD was the thing that kept that brinksmanship in check.

 

[Spoooon]

Not an agreement, the understanding that the results would be pretty sucky for all involved.

Brinkmanship is like a game of chicken.

 

[Kreon]

Brinkmanship is pushing a situation to the limits (the brink) to get what you want
ex Cuban Missle Crisis

MAD is jts that, unspoken (though often alluded to) mutually assured destruction if someone does something stupid

Brinkmanship is a tactic I guess, where-as MAD is a concept

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

Brinksmanship is playing who blinks first, based on a series of signals sent to your opponent to show a party is more aggressive than the other in any series of negotiation.

MAD refers to the elimination of any first strike advantage in nuclear type war. No advantage is gained by partaking in overly aggressive behavior.

In other words aggressiveness can be rewarded in brinksmanship whereas aggressiveness in MAD will always result in a sub-optimal conclusion.

 

[tailes151]

Awesome, thanks guys.

 

[IGBT]

..mad only works if both contries are intrested in their own survival. If your at war with a death cult or a society that values death more then life mad is of no value.