Preemptive attack. Albania thinks that Botswana will soon become much more powerful and that this would be very bad. Calculating that it can win—or accepting a large chance of devastation rather than simply letting Botswana get ahead—Albania attacks preemptively.
FWIW, many distinguish between preemptive and preventive war, where the scenario you described falls under “preventive”, and “preemptive” implies an imminent attack from the other side.
FWIW, many distinguish between preemptive and preventive war, where the scenario you described falls under “preventive”, and “preemptive” implies an imminent attack from the other side.
Ha, I took intro IR last semester so I should have caught this. Fixed, thanks.