We consider social contracts for resolving conflicts between two agents who are uncertain about each other's fighting potential. Applications include international conflict, litigation, and elections. Even though only a peaceful agreement avoids a loss of resources, if this loss is small enough,...

During the past two centuries, western nations have successively extended the voting franchise to citizens of lower income. We explain this process of democratization as a rational way for incumbent elites to wage war effectively on other nations, as in a strategic game of international conflict...

Intro -- Contents -- Series Foreword -- Preface -- Introduction -- 1 Strategic Aspects of Fighting in Alliances -- 2 Fiscal Equalization and Political Conflict -- 3 Natural Resources, Social Conflict, and Poverty Trap -- 4 A Game of Thrones: Power Structure and the Stability of Regimes -- 5 The...

It can be advantageous for an office motivated party A to spend effort to make it public that a group of voters will lose from party A s policy proposal. Such effort is called inverse campaigning. The inverse campaigning equilibria are described for the case where the two parties can...