Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:28:06.403Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reputation and Hegemonic Stability: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

James E. Alt
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Randall L. Calvert
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
Brian D. Humes
Affiliation:
Michigan State University

Abstract

We develop and explicate a game-theoretic model in which repeated play, incomplete information, and reputation are major elements. A significant advance of this model is the way it represents cooperation under incomplete information among rational actors of different sizes. The model is used to formalize certain aspects of the “theory of hegemonic stability.” It shows that the “dilemma” or “limits” of hegemonic stability look like natural attributes of games where reputation is involved, unifying both “benevolent” and “coercive” strands of hegemony theory. An example, drawn from recent developments in the Organization of Petroleum-exporting Countries, shows how our model of reputation guides the study of hegemonic regime construction. We conclude by comparing the nature of cooperative behavior under conditions of complete and incomplete information.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1988

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

Ahrari, Mohammed E. 1986. OPEC: The Falling Giant. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Allan, Pierre. 1983. Crisis Bargaining and the Arms Race: A Theoretical Model. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.Google Scholar
Axelrod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Barro, Robert J. 1986. Reputation in a Model of Monetary Policy with Incomplete Information. Journal of Monetary Economics 17:320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brams, Steven, and Hessel, Marek. 1984. Threat Power in Sequential Games. International Studies Quarterly 28:2344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvert, Randall L. 1987. Reputation and Legislative Leadership. Public Choice 55:81119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cioffi-Revilla, Claudio. 1983. A Probability Model of Credibility. Journal of Conflict Resolution 27:73108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGroot, Morris. 1970. Optimal Statistical Decisions. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Downs, George W., Rocke, David M., and Siverson, Randolph M.. 1985. Arms Races and Cooperation. World Politics 38:118–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fudenberg, Drew, and Kreps, David M.. 1985. Reputation and Multiple Opponents. Graduate School of Business Research Paper No. 843. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Fudenberg, Drew, and Tirole, Jean. 1986. A Theory of Exit in Duopoly. Econometrica 54:943–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilpin, Robert. 1981. War and Change in World Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossman, Sanford J., and Perry, Motty. 1986. Sequential Bargaining under Asymmetric Information. Journal of Economic Theory 39:120–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, J. C. 19671968. Games with Incomplete Information Played by “Bayesian” Players. 3 pts. Management Science 14(Series A):159–82, 320–34, 486502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harsanyi, J. C. 1973. Games with Randomly Disturbed Payoffs: A New Rationale for Mixed-Strategy Equilibrium Points. International Journal of Came Theory 2:124.Google Scholar
Jervis, Robert. 1985. From Balance to Concert: A Study of International Security Cooperation. World Politics 38:5879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keohane, Robert. 1980. The Theory of Hegemonic Stability and Changes in International Economic Regimes, 1967–1977. In Change in the International System, ed. Holsti, Ole R., Siverson, Randolph M., and George, Alexander L.. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Keohane, Robert. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, Charles P. 1973. The World in Depression, 1929–1939. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kindleberger, Charles P. 1981. Dominance and Leadership in the International Economy. International Studies Quarterly 25:242–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krasner, Stephen D. 1976. State Power and the Structure of International Trade. World Politics 28:317–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreps, David M., Milgrom, Paul, Roberts, John, and Wilson, Robert. 1982. Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma. Journal of Economic Theory 2:245–52.Google Scholar
Kreps, David M., and Wilson, Robert. 1982a. Reputation and Imperfect Information. Journal of Economic Theory 27:253–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreps, David M., and Wilson, Robert. 1982b. Sequential Equilibrium. Econometrica 50:863–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipson, Charles. 1985. Bankers' Dilemmas: Private Cooperation in Rescheduling Sovereign Debts. World Politics 38:200–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luce, Robert Duncan, and Raiffa, Howard. 1957. Games and Decisions. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Maoz, Zeev. 1983. Resolve, Capabilities, and the Outcomes of Interstate Disputes, 1816–1976. Journal of Conflict Resolution 27:195229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oye, Kenneth. 1985. Explaining Cooperation under Anarchy: Hypotheses and Strategies. World Politics 38:124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubenstein, Ariel. 1985. A Bargaining Model with Incomplete Information. Econometrica 53:1151–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruggie, John G. 1985. International Organization: A State of the Art on an Art of the State. Presented at the 1985 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Schelling, Thomas C. 1960. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Selten, Reinhard. 1975. Re-examination of the Perfectness Concept for Equilibrium Points in Extensive Form Games. International Journal of Came Theory 4:2555.Google Scholar
Snidal, Duncan. 1985a. The Limits of Hegemonic Stability Theory. International Organization 39:579614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snidal, Duncan. 1985b. The Game Theory of International Politics. World Politics 38:2557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snidal, Duncan. 1985c. Coordination versus Prisoner's Dilemma: Implications for International Cooperation and Regimes. American Political Science Review 79:923–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobel, Joel. 1985. A Theory of Credibility. Review of Economic Studies 52:557–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, Arthur. 1984. The Hegemon's Dilemma: Great Britain, the United States, and the International Economic Order. International Organization 38:355–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wagner, R. Harrison. 1983. The Theory of Games and the Problem of International Cooperation. American Political Science Review 77:330–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, Hugh. 1987. The Risks of a Reputation for Toughness: Strategy in Public Goods Provision Problems Modelled by Chicken Supergames. British Journal of Political Science 17:2352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.