We develop a theory of policy implementation and elections that examines the conditions under which observable policy sabotage --- that is, the deliberate choice by an opposition party to block the implementation of a policy --- can be an effective electoral strategy. From the perspective of...

In political environments, the process of developing new policies often involves competing factions or entrepreneurs, who make productive investments to make their proposals more appealing to decisionmakers. The ideologies and abilities of these factions is often highly asymmetric, e.g.,...

We analyze a model of policymaking in which only one actor, e.g., a bureaucratic agency or a well-funded interest group, has the capacity to develop high-quality policy proposals. By virtue of her skills, this actor has an effective monopoly on policy development and thus can craft proposals...

In political organizations, the process of developing new policies often involves competing policy entrepreneurs who make productive investments to make their proposals more appealing to decisionmakers. We analyze how entrepreneurs' extremism and costs of crafting high-quality proposals affect...

We present a model of policy development in which competing factions have different ideologies, yet agree on certain common objectives. Policy developers can appeal to a decisionmaker by making productive investments to improve the quality of their proposals. These investments are specific to a...

Formal models in political science typically consider actors with differing interests or ideologies, but political actors often have “good faith disagreements” about how to achieve commonly shared goals. We develop a model of a hierarchical political organization in which a principal and an...

A central puzzle in the study of deterrence is how threats can be credible when they are meant to defend interests that do not immediately appear to be worth fighting over. We develop a formal model in which a defender fears a challenger's potential future belligerence, and seeks to deter her...