Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T17:46:15.150Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prenegotiation Public Commitment in Domestic and International Bargaining

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2005

BAHAR LEVENOTOĞLU  and
AHMER TARAR
BAHAR LEVENOTOĞLU
Affiliation:
Stony Brook University
AHMER TARAR
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We use a formal bargaining model to examine why, in many domestic and international bargaining situations, one or both negotiators make public statements in front of their constituents committing themselves to obtaining certain benefits in the negotiations. We find that making public commitments provides bargaining leverage, when backing down from such commitments carries domestic political costs. However, when the two negotiators face fairly similar costs for violating a public commitment, a prisoner's dilemma is created in which both sides make high public demands which cannot be satisfied, and both negotiators would be better off if they could commit to not making public demands. However, making a public demand is a dominant strategy for each negotiator, and this leads to a suboptimal outcome. Escaping this prisoner's dilemma provides a rationale for secret negotiations. Testable hypotheses are derived from the nature of the commitments and agreements made in equilibrium.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 99 , Issue 3 , August 2005 , pp. 419 - 433
Copyright
© 2005 by the American Political Science Association

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

Binmore Ken G. 1987. “Perfect Equilibria in Bargaining Models.” In The Economics of Bargaining, ed. Ken G. Binmore and Partha Dasgupta. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Crawford Vincent P. 1982. “A Theory of Disagreement in Bargaining.” Econometrica 50 (May): 607 –38.Google Scholar
de Tocqueville Alexis. [1835] 1945. Democracy in America. New York: Knopf.
Fearon James. 1994. “Domestic Political Audiences and the Escalation of International Disputes.” American Political Science Review 88 (September): 577– 92.Google Scholar
Fearon James. 1995. “Rationalist Explanations for War.” International Organization 49 (Summer): 379– 414.Google Scholar
Fearon James. 1997. “Signaling Foreign Policy Interests: Tying Hands versus Sinking Costs.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 41 (February): 68– 90.Google Scholar
Gowa Joanne. 1995. “Democratic States and International Disputes.” International Organization 49 (Summer): 511– 22.Google Scholar
Guisinger Alexandra, and Alastair Smith. 2002. “Honest Threats: The Interaction of Reputation and Political Institutions in International Crises.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 46 (April): 175– 200.Google Scholar
Iida Keisuke. 1993. “When and How Do Domestic Constraints Matter? Two-Level Games with Uncertainty.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 37 (September): 403– 26.Google Scholar
Jordan Amos A., William J. Taylor, and Michael J. Mazarr. 1999. American National Security. 5th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Keohane Robert O. 1984. After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kydd Andrew, and Barbara Walter. 2002. “Sabotaging the Peace: The Politics of Extremist Violence.” International Organization 56 (Spring): 263– 96.Google Scholar
Makovsky David. 2001. “Middle East Peace Through Partition.” Foreign Affairs (March/April): 28– 45.Google Scholar
Martin Lisa L. 2000. Democratic Commitments: Legislatures and International Cooperation. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Milner Helen V. 1997. Interests, Institutions, and Information: Domestic Politics and International Relations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mo Jongryn. 1994. “The Logic of Two-Level Games with Endogenous Domestic Coalitions.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 38 (September): 402– 22.Google Scholar
Mo Jongryn. 1995. “Domestic Institutions and International Bargaining: The Role of Agent Veto in Two-level Games.” American Political Science Review 89 (December): 914– 24.Google Scholar
Morgenthau Hans. 1956. Politics Among Nations. 2d ed. New York: Knopf.
Muthoo Abhinay. 1992. “Revocable Commitment and Sequential Bargaining.” Economic Journal 102 (March): 378– 87.Google Scholar
Muthoo Abhinay. 1996. “A Bargaining Model Based on the Commitment Tactic.” Journal of Economic Theory 69 (April): 134– 52.Google Scholar
Muthoo Abhinay. 1999. Bargaining Theory with Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nash John F. 1950. “The Bargaining Problem.” Econometrica 18 (April): 155– 62.Google Scholar
Pahre Robert. 1997. “Endogenous Domestic Institutions in Two-Level Games and Parliamentary Oversight of the European Union.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 41 (February): 147– 74.Google Scholar
Perlmutter Amos. 1995. “The Israeli-PLO Accord Is Dead.” Foreign Affairs (May/June): 59– 68.Google Scholar
Putnam Robert D. 1988. “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games.” International Organization 42 (Summer): 427– 60.Google Scholar
Rubinstein Ariel. 1982. “Perfect Equilibrium in a Bargaining Model.” Econometrica 50 (January): 79– 109.Google Scholar
Sartori Anne E. 2002. “The Might of the Pen: A Reputational Theory of Communication in International Disputes.” International Organization 56 (Winter): 121– 49.Google Scholar
Schelling Thomas C. 1960. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Schultz Kenneth A. 1999. “Do Democratic Institutions Constrain or Inform?” International Organization 53 (Spring): 233– 66.Google Scholar
Smith Alastair. 1998. “International Crises and Domestic Politics.” American Political Science Review 92 (September): 623– 38.Google Scholar
Telhami Shibley. 1990. Power and Leadership in International Bargaining: The Path to the Camp David Accords. New York: Columbia University Press.
Waltz Kenneth. 1979. Theory of International Politics. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.