Alliances in the Shadow of Conflict

Abstract

Victorious alliances often …ght about the spoils of war. This paper presents an experiment on the determinants of whether alliances break up and …ght internally after having defeated a joint enemy. First, if peaceful sharing yields an asymmetric rent distribution, this increases the likelihood of …ghting. In turn, anticipation of the higher likelihood of internal …ght reduces the alliance's ability to succeed against the outside enemy. Second, the option to make non-binding declarations on non-aggression in the relationship between alliance members does not make peaceful settlement within the alliance more likely. Third, higher di¤er-ences in the alliance players'contributions to alliance e¤ort lead to more internal con ‡ict and more intense …ghting.