Asymmetric conflict games with an extremist

Abstract

This paper extends the conflict game of Baliga and Sjöström (2012) by allowing for an asymmetry between players. We demonstrate that (i) a player with a greater net gain from playing a hawkish action is more likely to play a hostile action and thereby the risk of war increases with it, and that (ii) an extremist cannot manipulate the conflict via cheap-talk message whenever the properties of actions are asymmetric between the players.