Side Payments in World Politics: Theory and Practice

Scholars of world politics frequently highlight the importance of side payments in promoting international cooperation across a broad array of issue areas, from military alliances to environmental agreements. However, in order to be effective, side payments must be credible, meaning that they require the parties to make “binding agreements.” But what does it mean to make a “binding agreement” in the context of world politics? How can such agreements be enforced? The purpose of this article is to address several outstanding issues in the conceptualization of side payments in the hope of defining some scope conditions under which such payments are most likely to promote cooperation.