The Influence of International Relations Theories on Decision-Making in Experimental Interaction

Abstract

This article presents the results of an experimental analysis of the influence
of international relations theories on the decision-making process. The
experimental model was constructed on the basis of the iterated prisoner’s
dilemma, which was introduced to three hundred participants through
discursively influenced narratives of an evolving international relations
situation. The narratives, representing an independent variable, have been
derived from three theories of international relations: realism,
neoliberalism, and constructivism. The goal of the experiment was to test
whether these three different discursive framings result in different levels
of cooperation. Using random assignment, the experiment showed a
statistically significant difference between the types of decision-making of
participants assigned to the realist and the neoliberal experimental
treatment. The understanding of the decision-making process was further
enriched by an analysis of interviews with selected participants in the
experiment.