Ec. Fink et al., THE SIZE PRINCIPLE AND THE STRATEGIC BASIS OF AN ALLIANCE - FORMALIZING INTUITIONS, International interactions, 22(3), 1997, pp. 279-294
At the end of the Cold War, attention is keenly turned towards predict
ing alliance behavior in the international system. As such the lessons
from past history are important in helping us guide our expectations.
One recent lesson, Schweller (1993), argued that the strategic basis
of a coalition was decisive in determining the size of coalitions; off
ensive coalitions would be minimum winning while defensive coalitions
would be maximal. We show that by formalizing in game theoretic terms
what 'seems reasonable,' in fact does not yield these predictions. We
find no support for the strategic basis of a coalition being determina
te in predicting the size of a coalition. As such, formalizing the int
uitions from the lessons of the past help guide us in our search for u
sable lessons in alliance formation.