The Conflict Forecasting Project

Abstract

An expected utility approach to the study of international and comparative politics offers both the opportunity to deduce propositions about potentially conflictual policy formation, and, to evaluate the usefulness of those propositions as explanations of actual behavior. Many studies that have applied such a framework to international conflict have used the model proposed in The War Trap. Although this model has proven helpful in explaining both intuitively obvious cases of international disputes and seemingly counterintuitive ones, still it possesses several serious shortcomings. The main goal of the Conflict Forecasting Project (hereafter CFP) is to correct some of those shortcomings. Here is a refined version of the expected utility formulation set out in the The War Trap. The model has been reconstructed, protection added against interpersonal comparisons, and an introduction into the model for resistance by an opponent for policy changes.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADA163539

Entities

People

  • Bruce B. De Mesquita

Organizations

  • University of Rochester

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Civil Rights
  • Economic Analysis
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Human Behavior
  • International Conflicts
  • International Relations
  • Military Assistance
  • New York
  • Political Science
  • Recreation
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Systems Science
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Ussr

Readers

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.