Brinkmanship

Brinkmanship is the practice, especially in international politics, of seeking advantage by creating the impression that one is willing and able to push a highly dangerous situation to the limit rather than to concede, e.g. nuclear brinkmanship.

The policy of "Brinkmanship" was advocated by United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles during the Cold War against the Soviet Union.

Bertrand Russell famously compared the game of chicken to nuclear brinkmanship.