Annual Reviews tagline graphic
  Hello. Sign in to get personalized recommendations. New user? Register now.
 
Home Order Browse Search Profile Help Contact Us
Abstract
Annual Review of Political Science
Vol. 11: 351-386 (Volume publication date June 2008)
(doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.062206.091849)
First published online as a Review in Advance on February 15, 2008
Coalitions

Macartan Humphreys­
Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027; email:

The game theoretic study of coalitions focuses on settings in which commitment technologies are available to allow groups to coordinate their actions. Analyses of such settings focus on two questions. First, what are the implications of the ability to make commitments and form coalitions for how games are played? Second, given that coalitions can form, which coalitions should we expect to see forming? I examine classic cooperative and new noncooperative game theoretic approaches to answering these questions. Classic approaches have focused especially on the first question and have produced powerful results. However, these approaches suffer from a number of weaknesses. New work attempts to address these shortcomings by modeling coalition formation as an explicitly noncooperative process. This new research reintroduces the problem of coalitional instability characteristic of cooperative approaches, but in a dynamic setting. Although in some settings, classic solutions are recovered, in others this new work shows that outcomes are highly sensitive, not only to bargaining protocols, but also to the forms of commitment that can be externally enforced. This point of variation is largely ignored in empirical research on coalition formation. I close by describing new agendas in coalitional analysis that are being opened up by this new approach.

Full TextPDF
 
Series Home > Table of Contents > Abstract

Prev. Article | Next Article
Full-text HTML
View/Print PDF (349.4 KB)
Add to Favorites
Email link to a friend

Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to del.icio.us

Quick Links
 • RSS (Series Update Alert)
 • Alert me when:
New articles cite this article
 • RSS (Citation Alert)
 • Download to citation manager
 • Related articles found in:
Annual Reviews
 • View Most Downloaded Reviews
 
 
Quick Search
for 
Author:
Macartan Humphreys
Keywords:
commitments
cooperative
noncooperative
contracts
Nash program

Users who read this review also read:

,
Annual Review of Political Science. Volume 11, Page 387-412, Jun 2008
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (177 KB) | Add to Favorites | Related 
Annual Review of Political Science. Volume 11, Page 1-12, Jun 2008
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (178 KB) | Add to Favorites | Related 
,
Annual Review of Political Science. Volume 11, Page 563-588, Jun 2008
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1387 KB) | Add to Favorites | Related 
Annual Review of Political Science. Volume 11, Page 497-520, Jun 2008
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (165 KB) | Add to Favorites | Related 

2008 Annual Reviews. All Rights Reserved.
  Technology Partner - Atypon Systems, Inc.