Compellence has been characterized as harder to successfully implement than deterrence because of difficulties in getting actors to withdraw actions.
Scholars have identified several factors as contributing to successful coercion, such as power, interests,[11] reputation,[8][9] credibility, resolve, and ability to signal.
[13] According to Richard Ned Lebow, successful coercion tends to involve:[14] According to Robert Art, the perquisites for coercion success are:[15] Deterrence is widely defined as any use of threats (implicit or explicit) or limited force intended to dissuade an actor from taking an action (i.e. maintain the status quo).
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been an extension of deterrence scholarship to areas that are not specifically about nuclear weapons.
Credibility in international relations refers to the perceived likelihood that a leader or a state follows through on threats and promises that have been made.
Credibility is related to concepts such as reputation (how past behavior shapes perceptions of an actor's tendencies) and resolve (the willingness to stand firm while incurring costs).
[25] One of the main problems in coercive diplomacy is that it is hard to credibly signal that compliance will not lead to punishment.