Commitment problems and the failure of the Minsk process: the second-order commitment challenge

Paul D’Anieri

Post-Soviet Affairs, 2023, vol. 39, issue 4, 257-272

Abstract: Understanding why the Minsk process failed is essential both for explaining why Russia invaded in 2022 and for ensuring that a new peace settlement does not prove similarly ineffective. Many analyses point to the conflicting goals of the combatants as the basic obstacle to peace. However, rationalist approaches show that some peace agreement should always be preferable to war. The commitment problem represents an obstacle to peace in Ukraine that is distinct from the territorial questions at the center of the war. The failure of Minsk reflects the actors’ inability to credibly commit to fulfilling their promises. Third-party guarantees are essential to solving the conflict, but external guarantees have their own credibility problems. Therefore, further conflict was the only route to a settlement. Unless better solutions for the commitment problem can be found, a peace deal will rely either on one side being defeated or the two sides fighting to exhaustion.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1060586X.2022.2158685 (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:taf:rpsaxx:v:39:y:2023:i:4:p:257-272

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rpsa20

DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2022.2158685

Access Statistics for this article

Post-Soviet Affairs is currently edited by Timothy Frye

More articles in Post-Soviet Affairs from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().