What is 'brinkmanship'

Question

Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

In our last episode,
(Email Removed),
the lovely and talented ksr
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
[nq:1]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
This is a word from the Cold War. A brink is the edge, threshold, or verge of something, usually something dangerous. For example, the brink of a cliff is the edge of the cliff, where one would be in danger of falling off. In the Cold War, of course, the brink was the verge of nuclear war.
Brinkmanship was the kind of Cold War diplomacy which was practiced by creating a situation in which the likelihood of nuclear exchange seemed to be (or was in fact) very great. Although the word is a few years older, the Cuban Missile Crisis is a good example of the practice of brinkmanship.
Now suppose John and Sally have been told to play quietly. John wants the toy Sally has. Sally doesn't want to give it to him. John tells Sally he will call Mother if she doesn't give him the toy. Sally gives him the toy. John practiced brinkmanship. Although they would both be punished if John called Mother, Sally was more afraid of the punishment and gave up the toy.
On the other hand, Sally could practice brinkmanship too. She could refuse to give up the toy and defy John to call Mother. At that point John can either call Mother, ensuring that both of them are punished, or he can give up his demand for the toy.

Lars Eighner ~~finger for geek code~~ (Email Removed) http://www.io.com/~eighner/ "The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it." Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
The Japanese applied the concept to manufacturing and logistics, usually translated as "Just-In-Time".
Matti

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles,
in office in the late 1950s, said that when
negotiating with the USSR, the USA should
be prepared to go to the brink of war in order
to get what it wanted. This "brinkmanship"
nowadays seems to be an empty phrase.
Perhaps because of Stalin's death, the
Eisenhower presidency now seems farther
distant from the brink than that of either
Truman (cf. Korean War) or Kennedy (cf.
Cuban missiles crisis.) Eisenhower's worst
crises include Viet Nam negotiations in 1954
and the Suez and Hungarian fighting in 1956:
in none of these cases did the USA aggressively
approach the brink of war.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
Can't think of a synonym. As usual, synonyms most often give a close meaning, but those definitions hardly ever correspond directly with the original word.
Here was the Google definition:
brink·man·ship ( P ) Pronunciation Key (brngkmn-shp) also brinks·man·ship (brngks-).
n. The practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than concede.

Of course, I prefer brinksmanship (which has the identical definition). brinkmanship frequency about 35,000
brinksmanship frequency about 10,100
Example: Cuban Missile crisis. Remember when Khruschev "blinked"?
My memory insisted on recalling a series of panicky Kissinger flights during the Nixon administration, but I couldn't recall the occasion and destination. I think he was definitely involved in brinksmanship then, and on other occasions. However, once I filtered through a lot of mental junk, the words "shuttle diplomacy" came to mind. By the way, this article discusses brinkmanship
Shuttle Diplomacy. ... The notion of shuttle diplomacy is said to have emerged from
Henry Kissinger's efforts in the Middle East in the early 1970s. http://www.beyondintractability.org/m/shuttle diplomacy.jsp
(even more off-topic: Has anyone heard about the embarrassment involving US SoS Colin Powell's quick flight to Athens during the Olympics, and even quicker return to US? It seems he was embarrassed at the anti-US demonstrations and chose discretion as the better part of politics. I never heard the purpose of the flight, either before or after. I don't recall any other Foreign Minister or Chief of State attending the Olympics.)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
[nq:1]Can't think of a synonym. As usual, synonyms most often give a close meaning, but those definitions hardly ever correspond directly with the original word.[/nq]
Brinksmanship is playing a game of "chicken", where the first person to back down loses. The game requires serious consequences for both participants if neither backs down. An example is two young men driving towards each other at high speed down the middle of the road. The first one to swerve off to the side is the chicken and loses. If neither swerves, they both die.
Although it doesn't seem to be in most online dictionaries, I like the word "specsmanship". It refers to the art of making up (technical) specifications that highlight positive features of a product and obscure the weak points.
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" (Email Removed) Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Please help me know the meaning of the word 'brinkmanship' in simple words with examples. Is there any synonym for this word?[/nq]
Provoking someone to declare war and hoiping they won't actually do it going to the brink of war, and then pulling back.
Kennedy and Krushchev in 1962, for example.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Although it doesn't seem to be in most online dictionaries, I like the word "specsmanship". It refers to the art of making up (technical) specifications that highlight positive features of a product and obscure the weak points.[/nq]
Doesn't this have origins in the Stephen Potter books rather than in "brinksmanship"?

Usenet · Answer

Although it doesn't seem to be in most online dictionaries, I like the word "specsmanship". It refers to the art of making up (technical) specifications that highlight positive features of a product and obscure the weak points.
So did brinkmanship start this family of words:
brinkmanship
specsmanship
gamesmanship
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Can't think of a synonym. As usual, synonyms most ... those definitions hardly ever correspond directly with the original word.[/nq]
[nq:1]Brinksmanship is playing a game of "chicken", where the first person to back down loses. The game requires serious consequences ... The first one to swerve off to the side is the chicken and loses. If neither swerves, they both die.[/nq]
The game was played more seriously
in the early days of the Battle of Britain,
with Spifires and Messerschmidts meeting head on, guns blazing. The first one to dive away lost.
(He presented his vulnerable area to the his opponents gunfire without being able to shoot back)
Both sides gave it up after a time as bad tactics: they lost too many pilots in mid-air collisions.
I don't think you should call this kind of thing brinkmanship though. The cold war brinkmanship was a slow, deliberate process, moving towards the brink, seeing how the other side reacted, taking a step away, and another step towards the brink, etc.

More like a chess game than racing on a collision course,

Jan

What is 'brinkmanship'

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions