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Power Problems • June 10, 2025 

# Do Madman Tactics Work? 

Samuel Seitz, a fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Program, explores so-called “madman behavior” in international politics and whether it’s effective in gaining leverage in international confrontations. He explains why problems of signaling, credibility, and reassurance tend to make madman tactics ineffective and he discusses examples from the Cold War to Trump’s first and second administrations.

**Show Notes**

Samuel Seitz, Caitlin Talmadge, “[The Predictable Hazards of Unpredictability: Why Madman Behavior Doesn’t Work](https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.gwu.edu/dist/1/2181/files/2024/12/SeitzTalmadge_TWQ.pdf),” *The Washington Quarterly* 43:3, 2020.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

##### Samuel Seitz 

Fellow, MIT’s Security Studies Program

![John Glaser](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/John%20Glaser.jpg?itok=-uvxR8zG) 

##### John Glaser 

Host, Power Problems Podcast

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](https://twitter.com/jwcglaser)