Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T12:26:12.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stability in Anarchic International Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Emerson M. S. Niou  and
Peter C. Ordeshook
Emerson M. S. Niou
Affiliation:
Duke University
Peter C. Ordeshook
Affiliation:
California Institute of Technology
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Can stability emerge solely from the competition and self-interest of sovereign powers existing in a state of anarchy, or does stability depend on restraints from the complex nexus of interdependencies characterizing the contemporary world economy and its associated institutions? We suppose some infinitely divisible resource, that all nation-states are endowed with and maximize and that enables them to overcome adversaries in the event of conflict. We offer a noncooperative, extensive-form model of international conflict without exogenous mechanisms to enforce agreements in order to learn under what conditions balance of power and collective security ensure the sovereignty of all states in anarchic systems. We conclude that there exists at least one world—albeit an abstract one—in which anarchy yields stability.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 84 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 1207 - 1234
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Axelrod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Baron, David, and Ferejohn, John. 1989. “Bargaining in Legislatures.” American Political Science Review 84:1181–1206.Google Scholar
Blainey, Geoffrey. 1973. The Causes of War. New York: Free Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, Randall. 1989. “Reciprocity among Self-Interested Actors.” In Models of Strategic Choice in Politics, ed. Ordeshook, Peter. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Claude, Inis. 1962. Power and International Relations. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Gilpin, Robert. 1981. War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Grieco, Joseph M. 1988. “Anarchy and the Limits of Cooperation: A Realist's Critique of the Newest Liberal Institutionalism.” International Organization 42:485–507.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Stanley. 1965. The State of War: Essays on the Theory and Practice of International Politics. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Morton. 1979. Towards Professionalism in International Theory: Macrosystem Analysis. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert O. 1989. International Institutions and State Power. Boulder: Westview.Google Scholar
Luce, R. Duncan, and Raiffa, Howard. 1957. Games and Decisions. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Morgenthau, Hans. 1959. Politics among Nations. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Mueller, John. 1989. Retreat from Doomsday. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Niou, Emerson M. S., and Ordeshook, Peter. 1987. “Preventive War and the Balance of Power.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 31:387–419.Google Scholar
Niou, Emerson M. S., and Ordeshook, Peter. 1989. “Stability in International Systems and the Costs of War.” In Models of Strategic Choice in Politics, ed. Ordeshook, Peter. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Niou, Emerson M. S., and Ordeshook, Peter. 1991. “Realism Versus Neoliberalism: A Formulation.” American Journal of Political Science. Forthcoming.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niou, Emerson M. S., Ordeshook, Peter, and Rose, Gregory. 1989. The Balance of Power and Stability in International Systems. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Owen, Guillermo. 1982. Game Theory. 2d ed. Orlando, FL: Academic.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1962. Theory of Political Coalitions. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1964. Federalism. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Selten, Rhinehardt. 1981. “A Noncooperative Model of Characteristic-Function Bargaining.” In Essays in Game Theory and Economics in Honor of Oskar Morgenstern, eds. Boehm, V. and Nachthanp, H.. Vienna: Wissenschaftsverlag Bibliographisches Institut Mannheim.Google Scholar
Shubik, Martin. 1982. Game Theory in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sutton, John. 1986. “Non-Cooperative Bargaining Theory: An Introduction.” Review of Economic Studies 53:709–24.Google Scholar
Taylor, Michael M. 1976. Anarchy and Cooperation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. Harrison. 1986. “The Theory of Games and the Balance of Power.” World Politics 38: 546–76.Google Scholar
Waltz, Kenneth. 1988. “The Origins of War in Neorealist Theory.” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 18:615–28.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.