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Alliances in the shadow of conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Ke, Changxia
  • Konrad, Kai A.
  • Morath, Florian

Abstract

Victorious alliances often fight about the spoils of war. We consider experimentally when members of victorious alliances accept a peaceful division of the spoils, and when they fight against each other, and how the inability to commit to a peaceful division affects their effort contributions in their fight against a common enemy. First, we find that an asymmetric split of the prize induces a higher likelihood of internal fight and, in turn, reduces the effort contributions in the fight against a joint enemy. Second, non-binding declarations on how to divide the spoils in case of victory do not help to mitigate the holdup problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Ke, Changxia & Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2012. "Alliances in the shadow of conflict," Discussion Papers, Research Professorship & Project "The Future of Fiscal Federalism" SP II 2012-104, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbfff:spii2012104
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    Cited by:

    1. De Luca, Giacomo & Sekeris, Petros G. & Spengler, Dominic E., 2018. "Can violence harm cooperation? Experimental evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 342-359.
    2. Emmanuel Dechenaux & Dan Kovenock & Roman Sheremeta, 2015. "A survey of experimental research on contests, all-pay auctions and tournaments," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 18(4), pages 609-669, December.
    3. Changxia Ke & Florian Morath & Sophia Seelos, 2023. "Do groups fight more? Experimental evidence on conflict initiation," Working Papers 2023-16, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    4. Hubert János Kiss & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia & Vita Zhukova, 2023. "Group contest in a coopetitive setup: experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 18(3), pages 463-490, July.
    5. Herbst, Luisa & Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2015. "Endogenous group formation in experimental contests," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 163-189.
    6. Sheremeta, Roman, 2018. "Experimental Research on Contests," MPRA Paper 89327, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Tan, Jonathan H W & Bolle, Friedel, 2023. "Intragroup punishment and intergroup conflict aversion weaken intragroup cooperation in finitely repeated games," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Dong, Lu & Huang, Lingbo & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2024. "How alliances form and conflict ensues," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 255-276.
    9. Roman M. Sheremeta, 2018. "Behavior In Group Contests: A Review Of Experimental Research," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 683-704, July.
    10. Herbst, Luisa & Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2017. "Balance of power and the propensity of conflict," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 168-184.
    11. Cai, Xinyue & Kimya, Mert, 2023. "Stability of alliance networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 401-409.
    12. Antoine Pietri, 2017. "Les modèles de « rivalité coercitive » dans l’analyse économique des conflits," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 127(3), pages 307-352.
    13. Hubert J. Kiss & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia & Vita Zhukova, 2019. "Coopetition in group contest," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1911, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    14. Chao, Hong & Ho, Chun-Yu & Huang, Shaoqing & Qin, Xiangdong & Cong, Jiajia, 2019. "Partners or rivals? An experimental study of a two-stage tournament," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 288-310.
    15. Christoph March & Marco Sahm, 2025. "The perks of being in the smaller team: incentives in overlapping contests," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 29(3), pages 585-610, September.
    16. Sebastian Cortes-Corrales & Paul M. Gorny, 2025. "How strength asymmetries shape multi-sided conflicts," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 79(1), pages 235-274, February.
    17. Chang, Yang-Ming & Sellak, Manaf, 2025. "Alliances and strategic advantage in sequential-move contests: Implications for offensive vs. defensive strategies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    18. Jonas Send, 2020. "Exclusivity of Groups in Contests," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2020-19, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions

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