Spring 2001 HONR Course Descriptions - HONR 248L

HONR 248L Conflict, Cooperation, and Strategy
Tuesday/Thursday, 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Dr. Thomas Schelling, School of Public Affairs

This is a theoretical course. It looks at schematic analyses of conflict and cooperation: bargaining, negotiation, collective decisions, incentives and information, rules and enforcement, secrecy and deceit, threats and promises, interactive and interdependent behavior.

Most classes begin with an abstract puzzle or problem that we investigate together. We then try to identify live activities and real problems that share the structure of the abstraction. The purpose is to discover and get acquainted with recurring and universal situations, behaviors, and problems. Techniques of blackmail, to take an example, differ in the underworld, in the family, among nuclear powers, and in law enforcement; but in all those areas they have much in common. Mechanisms of separation and integration, to take another example, differ for race, for age, for language, and for lifestyle, and they differ for the classroom, the job, the neighborhood, and the sports arena; but there are common mechanisms of segregation and integration that reward study.

For most meetings, specific readings will be assigned and the day's problem or problems identified for the student to try in advance to solve or investigate as best he or she can. There is no prerequisite, but an interest in puzzles--a willingness to play with abstractions on the way to dealing with live issues--is a help. Students will prepare brief papers and oral presentations, and there will be a final examination.

Reading List:
Thomas Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict
-------, Micromotives and Macrobehavior
-------, Choice and Consequence
Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, Thinking Strategically
John McMillan, Games, Strategies, and Managers
There will be a packet of copied articles and chapters.

CORE--Behavioral and Social Science