Robert Axelrod

Political Scientist Class of 1987
location icon Location
Ann Arbor, Michigan
age iconAge
44 at time of award
area of focus iconArea of Focus

About Robert's Work

Robert Axelrod is a political scientist whose work has significant applications in international politics, business, and biology.

He has studied cooperation, cheating, and punishment in the context of multi-participant games, and his results suggest that cooperation based on reciprocity is often a highly effective strategy.  His work has been extensively cited in a variety of contexts, including the arms race, the development of ethics in children, the evolution of social norms, and the competition among single-cell organisms.  He is the author of Conflict of Interest: A Theory of Divergent Goals with Application to Politics (1970), Structure of Decision (1976), The Evolution of Cooperation (1984), The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration (1997), and Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier (co-author, 2001).  His recent research interests include complexity theory and international security.

Biography

Axelrod is the Arthur W. Bromage Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. 

Axelrod received a B.A. (1964) from the University of Chicago, and an M.A. (1966) and Ph.D. (1969) from Yale University.

Last updated January 1, 2005.

Published on July 1, 1987

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