REASONS FOR DEFECTION. HISTORICAL CASES ANALYZED THROUGH CONTEMPORARY MODELS
REASONS FOR DEFECTION. HISTORICAL CASES ANALYZED THROUGH CONTEMPORARY MODELS

Summary/Abstract: The article aims at harnessing the analytical power of theoretical modelsemployed in studying defection in favor of the enemy and use them to study Romanianhistorical sources originating during the First World War. These models have beendeveloped in the United States during the 1950s and 60s and are used by this article tostudy a very different case. The article’s main research question is “Can modelsexplaining reasons for defection developed in the US during the Cold War be applied onbehaviors detected in Romania at the beginning of the XX century?” The article answersthis question in the affirmative, showing how reasons for defection are, many times,similar despite large differences in time and space.The article’s first section relies on an exhaustive review of several theoreticalmodels, especially MICE. Further empirical studies have refined this simplificationof motivations, uncovering new potential reasons for betrayal such as the existence of“divided loyalties” or of disgruntlement against one’s own organization. These representthe analytical blueprint which is later applied on Romanian documents dating fromWorld War I.The second part of the article employs an analytical approach to uncoverreasons for defection in Romania and its vicinity. It presents both cases of ethnicRomanians who were Austro-Hungarian citizens and defected in favor of Romania, aswell as intelligence successes by the Austro-Hungarian enemy in Romania of that time.The article concludes that the first cases are mainly motivated by “divided loyalties”while the second was mostly caused by money and ideological reasons

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