ABSTRACT
Virtually everything we study in political science involves thinking about how individual preferences and/or actions reconcile with those of the group in which the individual is situated. Peace is not possible without both the government and the rebel group laying down their arms. A legislator needs the votes of other colleagues in order for his bill to pass. The budget cannot be passed without the support of the executive and legislature. A coup d’état cannot successfully displace the government unless various factions of the military coordinate their actions. As Pierson (2000: 258) observes: “In politics, the consequences of my actions are highly dependent upon the actions of others. What I get depends not just on what I do, but (mostly) on what others do.”
