TY - JOUR
T1 - Formal models of international institutions
AU - Gilligan, Michael J.
AU - Johns, Leslie
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/6/15
Y1 - 2012/6/15
N2 - The past three decades have witnessed the development of a rich literature that applies the formal tools of game theory to understanding international cooperation and international institutions. We divide this literature into three "generations" of scholarship. With a few notable exceptions, the first generation used very simple models - 2×2 normal form games - to understand why states need to cooperate and why they comply with their cooperative agreements under conditions of anarchy. This first generation unfortunately bogged down in the neorealistneoliberal debate. Second-generation scholars began to use tailor-made models to address the neorealistneoliberal debate and to turn to new questions, such as how international agreements are created and how domestic political divisions affect international cooperation. With answers to the key questions of how international agreements are created and complied with, third-generation scholars could turn to increasingly refined models to answer specific questions about international institutions, such as the proper size of multilateral agreements, how the gains of cooperation are distributed, whether flexibility provisions should be built into agreements, and the specific functions of international organizations.
AB - The past three decades have witnessed the development of a rich literature that applies the formal tools of game theory to understanding international cooperation and international institutions. We divide this literature into three "generations" of scholarship. With a few notable exceptions, the first generation used very simple models - 2×2 normal form games - to understand why states need to cooperate and why they comply with their cooperative agreements under conditions of anarchy. This first generation unfortunately bogged down in the neorealistneoliberal debate. Second-generation scholars began to use tailor-made models to address the neorealistneoliberal debate and to turn to new questions, such as how international agreements are created and how domestic political divisions affect international cooperation. With answers to the key questions of how international agreements are created and complied with, third-generation scholars could turn to increasingly refined models to answer specific questions about international institutions, such as the proper size of multilateral agreements, how the gains of cooperation are distributed, whether flexibility provisions should be built into agreements, and the specific functions of international organizations.
KW - bargaining
KW - compliance
KW - international cooperation
KW - multilateral agreements
KW - repeated prisoners' dilemma
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev-polisci-043010-095828
DO - 10.1146/annurev-polisci-043010-095828
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:84861445457
VL - 15
SP - 221
EP - 243
JO - Annual Review of Political Science
JF - Annual Review of Political Science
SN - 1094-2939
ER -