Escalation is the phenomenon of something getting worse step by step, for example a quarrel, or, notably, military presence and nuclear armament during the Cold War. (Compare to escalator, a device that lifts something to a higher level.)
The term was coined by Herman Kahn in 1965, when he published a book called On Escalation.
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Last updated: 08-08-2005 14:21:29
Last updated: 10-29-2005 02:13:46