This paper brings mechanism design to conflict resolution. We determine when and how unmediated communication and mediation reduce the ex ante probability of conflict in a game of conflict with asymmetric information. Mediation improves upon unmediated communication when the intensity of conflict is high, or when asymmetric information is significant. The mediator improves upon unmediated commu...

We consider the conditions of peace and violence among ethnic groups, testing a theory designed to predict the locations of violence and interventions that can promote peace. Characterizing the model's success in predicting peace requires examples where peace prevails despite diversity. Switzerland is recognized as a country of peace, stability and prosperity. This is surprising because of its ...

Technologies play a crucial role in both war and peace. Technologies designed for violence, namely weapons, range from handguns to nuclear weapons. Important characteristics of weapons include their destructive power, centralized control, offensive capacity, and ease of use. Technologies valuable for a peaceful society include those used in agriculture, construction, and transport. They can als...

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Globalization is often seen as consisting of economic virtues and political vices. I provide a more optimistic interpretation of the effects of economic integration on international politics, arguing that autonomous global markets help to promote world peace. I use game theory to show that the claims of competing states can be made more credible by investors able to re-allocate capital across n...

The term discourse theory encompasses a diverse set of insights, assumptions, and concepts that have emerged across a range of disciplines in recent decades. Discourse theory generally derives from the “ linguistic turn ” in the humanities and social sciences that traces back to the work of infl uential fi gures such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Michel Foucault (Rorty, 199...

The notion of peace, regardless of theorizations accepted in th field and since the                  Enlightenment Period, and the era known as Modernism, has, constantly, been one of the challenges of mankind, and also scientists in the field of political sciences and international relations.  Contrary to the presentation of the idea of peace and respect to the human rights in some of the fore...