The threat differs from the ordinary commitment, however, in that it makes one’s course of action conditional on what the other player does. While the commitment fixes one’s course of action, the threat fixes a course of reaction, of response to the other player. The commitment is a means of gaining first move in a game in which first move carries an advantage; the threat is a commitment to a strategy for second move.

DEFINE: Distinguishes threat from commitment by temporal position: commitment is first-move strategy, threat is second-move strategy conditional on opponent action.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 294