Interstate conflicts with multiple fronts

Sang Hoo Bae and Leonid Krasnozhon ()
Additional contact information
Sang Hoo Bae: Clark University
Leonid Krasnozhon: Loyola University New Orleans, College of Business

Public Choice, 2025, vol. 205, issue 3, No 2, 337-361

Abstract: Abstract This paper analyzes an interstate-conflict model in which two states compete for supporters in the governance of a territory on two socioeconomically linked fronts: soft (for example, media persuasion, propaganda) and hard (for example, annexation, invasion). Supporters enjoy an ego premium when their ideological alignment on the soft front matches the outcome on the hard front. A state’s total gain from a conflict is the difference between the economic gains from the hard front and the cost of forming ideological preferences on the soft front. We propose four scenarios based on the relative size of the ego premium and provide intuition on how competition on the soft front becomes widespread. We explore the implications of the model in the context of the Russian–Ukrainian war.

Keywords: Interstate conflict; War; Information; Propaganda; Russia; Ukraine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D74 F51 H00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-025-01292-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:205:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s11127-025-01292-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ce/journal/11127/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11127-025-01292-3

Access Statistics for this article

Public Choice is currently edited by WIlliam F. Shughart II

More articles in Public Choice from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().