The Dilemma of Prisoners
Choice during Stalin's Great Terror, 1936-38
Datos Bibliográficos
| ID | 10071491 |
|---|---|
| Autores | Peter Z Grossman (University of Washington, autor de correspondencia) |
| Año | 1994 |
| Volumen | 38 |
| Número | 1 |
| Páginas | 43-55 |
| Fecha de publicación | 1994-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sí |
| Open Access | Sí |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Revista | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores de la revista | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Editorial | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022002794038001003 |
| OpenAlex | W2005501619 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Referencias citadas | 9 |
Stalin's Great Terror was one of history's most massive political purges. In its form, the Terror resembled a one-shot, n-person prisoner's dilemma game. Although the Terror could not have been sustained if prisoners cooperated, most prisoners defected against one another, as the model would predict. Yet the record of the Terror also demonstrated that in a mass purge there exists a wider strategy set than that of the prisoner's dilemma game. Using an illustrative case and a generalized model of purges, it is shown that if prisoners implicate their interrogators and play what is called a “transformation” strategy, they raise the cost to the authority of conducting the purge. In fact, the authority has no consistent best response to the transformation, and the purge should not be sustainable for long thereafter. The Great Terror was apparently limited by employment of this transformation. Limitations on the formation and use of such a strategy are also considered
Dilemma · Economics · Epistemology · Game theory · Microeconomics · Political science · Politics · Prisoner's dilemma · Purge · Set (abstract data type · Strategy · Superrationality · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Law · Philosophy · Political Conflict and Governance · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
| Velocidad de citación | historical |
|---|---|
| Altamente citado | No |