Abstract
What are the conditions for ``moral'' conduct in internationalpolitics to be viable? This question is explored by modelingregional conflicts as a two-stage game in which imitation of othercountries' strategies and public opinion formation processes areassumed to have an impact on a country's strategic choice. Theresults derived by using the notion of an evolutionary stablestrategy point to some very special conditions for moral conduct toemerge and survive, a fact that may explain the historical findingthat there have been rather rare periods during which peaceableness did indeedprevail in international politics, at least at a regional level.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Axelrod, R. (1984). The evolution of cooperation. New York: Basic Books.
Bernholz, P. (1985). The international game of power. Berlin: Mouton Publ.
Bernholz, P. (1995). Efficiency, political-economic organization and competition between states. In G. Radnitzky and H. Bouillon (Eds.), Values and social order, Vol. 2, 157-198. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Brams, S. (1985). Superpower games: Applying game theory to superpower conflict. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bueno de Mesquita, B. and Lalman, D. (1992). War and reason: Domestic and international imperatives. New Haven: Yale University Press.
DeNardo, J. (1995). The amateur strategist: Intuitive deterrence theories and the politics of the nuclear arms race. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gaddis, J. (1992/93). International relations theory and the end of the Cold War. International Security 17: 5-58.
Gauthier, D. (1985). Morals by agreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hirshleifer, J. (1999). There are many evolutionary pathways to cooperation. Journal of Bioeconomics 1: 73-93.
Maynard Smith, J. (1982). Evolution and the theory of games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McClennen, E. (1989). Rationality and dynamic choice: Foundational explorations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Niou, E., Ordeshook, P. and Rose, G. (1989). The balance of power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schelling, T.C. (1960). The strategy of conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Sen, A. (1987). On ethics and economics. New York: Basil Blackwell.
Snidal, D. (1985). The game theory of international politics. Journal of World Politics 38: 25-57.
Witt, U. (1992). Evolutionary concepts in economics. Eastern Economic Journal 18: 405-419.
Wolfson, M., Farell, J., Gill, A. and Shabahang, H. (1992). Essays on the Cold War. London: Macmillan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Witt, U. Between Appeasement and Belligerent Moralism: The Evolution of Moral Conduct in International Politics. Public Choice 106, 365–388 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005154920068
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005154920068