Class 6- Interstate War and Bargaining Failure

Question 1

The Bargaining Range- Diagram

Answer 1

The set of deals that both states prefer to war forms the “Bargaining Range.”

Question 2

Varieties of Coercive Bargaining

Answer 2

DC:
Deterrence: An eort to preserve the status quo through the threat of force.
“Don’t do X or else”

Compliance: An eort to change the status quo through the threat of force.
“Give me Y or else”

Question 3

Incomplete Information:

Answer 3

A situation in which parties in a strategic interaction lack information about other parties’ interests and/or capabilities.

Question 4

States may have incomplete information about:

Answer 4

CR
Capabilities: a state’s physical ability to prevail in war (number of troops it can mobilize, the number and quality of armaments, the economic resources to sustain war effort,quality of military leadership, etc.)

Resolve: The willingness of an actor to endure costs in order to acquire some good.

Question 5

A has a secret weapons program that vastly improves its military might.BUT if incomplete information can lead to war, why can’t states
just tell each other how capable and resolved they are? If state A really did have a secret weapons program that has made A much more powerful, would it be better for A to tell B p or p*

Answer 5

Answer: p*.

Question 6

If state A did not actually have a secret weapons program that has made A much more powerful, would it be better for A to tell B p or p*?

Answer 6

Answer: p*.

So how can B believe A?

Question 7

**READ SUPPLEMENTAL READING WITH TECHNICAL HELP AND UNDERSTAND THROUGH REAL WORLD EXAMPLES

Question 8

Credibility Problems

Answer 8

- Carrying through on threats is costly, which makes it harder to believe them
- Sometimes states have an incentive to misrepresent information
- Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, assumed that US would attack Iraqi forces in Kuwait head on, suering massive casualties. Instead the US secretly planned to out ank them.
- Credibility would be aided by telling Iraq that this lower cost invasion option was possible, but revealing this information would undermine its value.

Question 9

Preventive War:

Answer 9

A war fought with the intention of preventing an
adversary from becoming stronger in the future.
- Arise because states whose power is increasing cannot commit not to exploit that power in future bargaining interactions.