NICE STRATEGIES IN A WORLD OF RELATIVE GAINS - THE PROBLEM OF COOPERATION UNDER ANARCHY

The debate between neoliberals and realists in the field of internatio nal relations draws heavily on the findings offered in Robert Axelrod' s Evolution of Cooperation. Axelrod's well-known argument is that coop eration can emerge among egoists despite the absence of a central auth ority. This article assesses the robustness of Axelrod's findings in l ight of the realist critique that relative gains concerns make coopera tion less likely than neoliberals contend. We build on an amended pris oner's dilemma (PD) game and conduct a computer simulation tournament in which we vary (1) the payoff structure and (2) Axelrod's population of strategies. The results indicate that cooperation can emerge even under strong relative gains concerns, so long as the population of str ategies is sufficiently retaliatory. On the basis of this finding, we argue that the realist critique is overstated: the introduction of gre ater relative gains concerns does not necessarily limit the prospects for cooperation among states.