Forthcoming, Journal of Conflict Resolution

When do states defend their reputations? States sometimes pay heavy costs to protect their reputations, but other times willingly take actions that could tarnish them. What accounts for the difference? This paper investigates the sources of reputation-building in the context of coercive diplomacy. It argues that fears about the future drive reputation-building behavior in crisis bargaining. Specifically, states are more likely to resist aggressors that pose a high risk of initiating future coercive challenges. Using a dataset of more than 200 coercive threats, empirical tests find support for this logic. The results shed light on the causes of reputation-building behavior and add an important element to our understanding of the dynamics of coercive diplomacy