Why are some economically costly disputes between advanced democracies prolonged? Taking a psychological approach, we argue that nonviolent yet costly disputes between international rivals fail to de-escalate because the perception of loss invokes anger and risk-taking attitudes. We test our argument using a paired conjoint experiment involving Japan and South Korea. We find that, in both countries, the public becomes more defiant and less supportive of de-escalating an ongoing dispute when informed about (1) the high cost of the trade restrictions on domestic firms, (2) international (i.e., World Trade Organization) support for the rival country, and (3) the rival public's hardline stance on the dispute. These findings lend support to our psychological explanation.
You can read it here: https://doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqac063