The Game Theory And Politics - 1709 Words

Game Theory and Politics Whenever Game theory is taught at colleges, politics is one area that is never touched upon as an application of game theory. Though game theory in international relations and national politics has been a studied in detail in the past, there has been a recent increase in the popularity of this study. An increasing number of game models are extensively being used in informed studies of arms control, preservation of international peace, disarmament policies, environmental treaties, national politics, international trade negotiations and bargaining process etc., with all the studies sharing the assumption that all the players in the international arena are rational with respect to the goals they seek to advance.†¦show more content†¦Thus, governments will gain if they engage in international cooperation to limit expenditure on military buildup. This problem of arms, and in general any problem of cooperation, can be explained through the game of prisoners dilemma. Prisoner’s dilemma was conceptualized by Melvin Dresher and Merrill Flood in 195, and formalized and named by Albert Tucker. This game provides a basic framework for the balance between cooperation and competition and therefore, is used extensively in strategic decision-making. Our example, arms race, can be modeled through this game. Two governments, lets all them A and B decide whether to build nuclear arms or not. Thus, each has two choices: build nuclear arms (denote by w) and not build nuclear arms (denote by n) and their respective choices give them certain payoff. The following 2x2 matrix describes the model: B A Build (W) Not Build (N) Build (W) (2,2) (4,1) Not Build (N) (1,4) (3,3) We can see that if both countries agree to not build nuclear arms, they have a higher payoff than they do if they both build. However, if they differ in their choices, then the country that chooses to build will have a power advantage over the other and thus, a higher payoff. In the above figure, if A chooses to build and if B