Game theory
This model explains why two countries, like the U.S. and the Soviet Union, might both build nuclear weapons, even though they would both be safer if they didn’t. The fear that the other will build weapons makes them both do it.
What is the Prisoners' Dilemma?
This term refers to what countries or actors want to achieve through political action, such as security, power, or wealth.
What are interests?
This term refers to the breakdown of negotiations that leads to conflict, often due to incomplete information, commitment problems, or indivisibilities.
What is bargaining failure?
These are the ways that credible signals could be sent between states to solve the information problem.
What are tying hands/audience costs, brinkmanship, paying for power?
This action occurs when a country chooses not to cooperate and instead seeks to gain by acting against the interests of others.
What is defection?
In the Paris Climate Agreement, countries like the United States, China, and India are examples of these participants in international relations who work to achieve their own goals.
What are actors?
This issue in bargaining theory occurs when one side cannot trust the other to honor an agreement in the future, leading them to prefer fighting now rather than risking betrayal later.
What are commitment problems?
This concept refers to a country's ability to influence the behavior of other states through economic, military, or diplomatic means.
What is power?
Two countries can either work together to get rid of nuclear weapons or keep them. If both cooperate, they get the best result—a peaceful world. But if one doesn't trust the other, they might both keep their weapons.
What is the Stag Hunt?
The United Nations is an example of this type of organization in international relations, which helps countries cooperate on global issues like peace and security
What are institutions?
This type of war occurs when a country starts a conflict to prevent an adversary from becoming stronger in the future, believing they can secure a better deal now before the balance of power shifts.
What is a preventive war?
In World War II, the massive loss of life and destruction in Europe highlighted the severe impact of this concept, which bargaining theory suggests countries should consider before resorting to conflict.
What are the costs of war?
This game theory model was applied during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where two countries faced a nuclear standoff. If both stood firm, the result could be catastrophic, but the country that backed down would lose face.
What is the Game of Chicken?
In the European Union, many countries work together for economic benefits like free trade. These types of goals that guide countries' political actions are known as this.
What are interests?
The 1982 Falklands War is an example of a conflict where neither Argentina nor the UK was willing to divide control of these islands, making peaceful negotiation difficult due to this issue.
What are indivisibilities?
Two countries are on the brink of war over a disputed border, but they choose to negotiate because they realize that fighting would be too expensive and destructive for both sides.
What is negotiating to avoid the high cost of war?
In both the Stag Hunt and Prisoners' Dilemma, this action leads to better outcomes for all involved but is often difficult to achieve due to lack of trust between countries.
What is cooperation?
This concept refers to the interaction between two or more countries where their choices combine to produce political outcomes, like treaties or wars.
What are interactions?
The 1982 conflict between Argentina and the UK over this territory occurred partly because Argentina underestimated the UK's willingness to use military force, illustrating this concept in bargaining theory.
What is incomplete information?
The key way to distinguish between bargaining and cooperation.
Bargaining is often zero-sum, whereas Cooperation can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes.