FORMAL MODELING IN POLITICAL SCIENCE

Politics: POL-GA 2105 S. J. Brams

New York University, Fall 2017 19 West 4th St., Rm. 309
19 West 4th St., Rm. 217 (212) 998-8510; [Link]@[Link]
Class: Mon., 6:20 - 8:20 Office Hrs.: Mon., 3:30 - 6; Wed., 3:30 - 4:30
The application of game theory—and an alternative strategic theory called “theory
of moves”—as well as social-choice theory to a wide variety of strategic situations,
principally but not exclusively in politics, will be examined. Uses of strategy in voting in
committees and elections, in political campaigns, in the defense and deterrence policies
of nations, and in bargaining and coalition-building situations will be among the topics
discussed. Secrecy and deception as political strategies will also be analyzed.
Although the applications of strategic thinking will be mainly to American and
international politics, strategy in everything from the Bible to sports and business today
will be studied, too. Social-choice topics that will be analyzed include the manipulability
of different voting systems, problems of achieving proportional representation in
parliamentary democracies, and conflicts among different apportionment methods. Fair-
division procedures for resolving disputes will also be analyzed.
In addition to the required readings, further readings will be recommended
throughout the course for those interested in pursuing particular topics in greater depth.
No mathematical training beyond high school mathematics is assumed in the course. The
written requirements of the course include a midterm and a final examination plus a short
paper on a topic—to which game theory is applicable—that is chosen in consultation
with the instructor. Each of the three written requirements will count approximately 1/3
percent towards one’s final grade.

Required Books
Brams, Steven J. RATIONAL POLITICS: DECISIONS, GAMES, AND STRATEGY.
Washington, DC/Boston: CQ Press/Academic Press, 1985/1989 (out of print; used
copies and bound reproductions in bookstore). RP
Brams, Steven J. THEORY OF MOVES. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
1994. TOM
Brams, Steven J., and Alan D. Taylor. THE WIN-WIN SOLUTION: GUARANTEEING
FAIR SHARES TO EVERYBODY. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999. WW
Dixit, Avinash K., and Barry J. Nalebuff. THE ART OF STRATEGY: A GAME
THEORIST’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS AND LIFE. New York:
W.W. Norton, 2008. AS
Assignments Due
Sept. 11: RP, chs. 1-2; TOM, Introduction and ch. 1; AS, Introduction and chs. 1-3
Sept. 18: TOM, ch. 2; AS, chs. 4-5
Sept. 25: TOM, chs. 3-4; AS, chs. 6-7
Oct. 2: TOM, ch. 5-6; AS, ch. 8
Oct. 16: TOM, chs. 7-8 and Review
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Oct. 23: Midterm Examination

Oct. 30: RP, ch. 3; AS, chs. 9-10
Nov. 6: RP, ch. 4; AS, chs. 11-12
Nov. 13: RP, chs. 5 & 7 (skip ch. 6)
Nov. 20: RP, chs. 8-9; AS, chs. 13-14
Nov. 27: WW, chs. 1-4
Dec. 4: WW, chs. 5-9
Dec. 11/12: 8-10 page paper due and oral reports on Dec. 11; review on Dec. 12
Dec. 18 (?): Final Exam

Game Theory Texts

Aliprantis, Charalambos D., and Subir K. Chakrabarti. GAMES AND DECISION
MAKING, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, 2011.
Barron, E. N. GAME THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION, 2nd ed. Wiley, 2013.
Binmore, Ken. PLAYING FOR REAL: A TEXT ON GAME THEORY. Oxford
University Press, 2007.
Börgers Tilman. AN INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF MECHANISM
DESIGN. Oxford University Press, 2015.
Dixit, Avinash K., David H. Reiley, and Susan Skeath. GAMES OF STRATEGY, 4th
ed. W.W. Norton, 2014.
Geckil, Ilhan Kubilay, and Partrick L. Anderson. APPLIED GAME THEORY AND
STRATEGIC BEHAVIOR. CRC Press, 2009.
Gintis, Herbert. THE BOUNDS OF REASON: GAME THEORY AND THE
UNIFICATION OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES. Princeton University
Press, 2009.
Gura, Ein Ya, and Michael B. Maschler. INSIGHTS INTO GAME THEORY: AN
ALTERNATIVE MATHEMATICAL EXPERIENCE. Cambridge University
Press, 2008.
Hargreaves Heap, Shaun P., and Yanis Varoufakis. GAME THEORY: A CRITICAL
TEXT, rev. ed. Routledge, 2004.
Harrington, Joseph E., ,Jr. GAMES, STRATEGIES, AND DECISION MAKING.
Worth, 2008.
Heifetz, Aviad. GAME THEORY: INTERACTIVE STRATEGIES IN ECONOMICS
AND MANAGEMENT. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Keiding, Hans. GAME THEORY: A COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION. World
Scientific, 2015.
Lepton-Brown, Kevin, and Yoav Shoham. ESSENTIALS OF GAME THEORY: A
CONCISE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY INTRODUCTION. Morgan & Claypod,
2008.
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Luce, R. Duncan, and Howard Raiffa. GAMES AND DECISIONS: A CRITICAL

SURVEY. Wiley, 1957.
McCain, Roger A. GAME THEORY: A NONTECHNICAL INTRODUCTION TO
THE ANALYSIS OF STRATEGY, 3rd ed. World Scientific, 2014.
McCarty, Nolan, and Adam Meirowitz. POLITICAL GAME THEORY: AN
INTRODUCTION. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Maschler, Michael, Eilon Solan, and Schmuel Zamir. GAME THEORY. Cambridge
University Press, 2013.
Nowak, Martin A. EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS: EXPLORING THE EQUATIONS
OF LIFE. Harvard University Press, 2006.
Osborne, Martin J. AN INTRODUCTION TO GAME THEORY. Oxford University
Press, 2004.
Petrosyan, Leon A., and Nikolay A. Zenkevitch. GAME THEORY, 2nd ed. World
Scientific, 2014.
Rosenthal, Edward C. THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO GAME THEORY.
Penguin Group, 2011.
Rothe, Jörg (ed.). AN INTRODUCTION TO ALGORITHMIC GAME THEORY,
COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL CHOICE, AND FAIR DIVISION. Springer,
2016.
Schecter, Stephen, and Herbert Gintis. GAME THEORY IN ACTION: AN
INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL AND EVOLUTONARY MODELS.
Princeton University Press, 2016.
Smith, Samuel Bruce. CHANCE, STRATEGY, AND CHOICE: AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE MATHEMATICS AND GAMES AND ELECTIONS. Cambridge
University Press, 2015.
Straffin, Philip D. GAME THEORY AND STRATEGY. Mathematical Associaiton of
America, 1993.
Tadelis, Steven. GAME THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION. Princeton University Press,
2013.
Watson, Joel. STRATEGY: AN INTRODUCTION TO GAME THEORY, 3rd ed. W.
W. Norton, 2013.
Williams, Kenneth C. INTRODUCTION TO GAME THEORY: A BEHAVIORAL
APPROACH. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Applications and History of Game Theory and Social-Choice Theory

Albert, Michael H., and Richard J. Nowakowski (eds.). GAMES OF NO CHANCE 3.
Cambridge University Press, 2009.
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Ankeny, Nesmith C. POKER STRATEGY: WINNING WITH GAME THEORY.

Basic, 1981.
Arrow, Kenneth J., Amartya K. Sen, and Kotaro Suzumura (eds.). HANDBOOK OF
SOCIAL CHOICE AND WELFARE, vol. 1/2. North Holland, 2002/2011.
Aumann, Robert J., and Sergiu Hart (eds.). HANDBOOK OF GAME THEORY WITH
ECONOMIC APPLICATIONS, vols. 1/2/3. North Holland, 1992/1994/2002.
Avenhaus, Rudolf, and I. William Zartman (eds.). DIPLOMACY GAMES: FORMAL
MODELS AND INERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS. Sprnger, 2007.
Axelrod, Robert. THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION. Basic, 1984.
Baird, Douglas G., Robert H. Gertner, and Randal C. Picker. GAME THEORY AND
THE LAW. Harvard University Press, 1994.
Bewerdorff, Jörg. LUCK, LOGIC, AND WHITE LIES: THE MATHEMATICS OF
GAMES. A. K. Peters, 2005.
Boorman, Scott A. THE PROTRACTED GAME: A WEI-CH’I INTREPRETATION
OF MAOIST REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY. Oxford University Press, 1969.
Börgers Cristoph. MATHEMATICS OF SOCIAL CHOICE: VOTING,
COMPENSATION, AND DIVISION. SIAM, 2010.
Brams, Steven J. GAME THEORY AND POLITICS. Free Press/Dover, 1975/2004.
Brams, Steven J. PARADOXES IN POLITICS: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
NONOBVIOUS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE. Free Press, 1976.
Brams, Steven J. THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION GAME. Yale University Press,
1978/2007.
Brams, Steven J. BIBLICAL GAMES: GAME THEORY AND THE HEBREW
BIBLE. MIT Press, 1980/2003.
Brams, Steven J. SUPERIOR BEINGS: IF THEY EXIST, HOW WOULD WE KNOW?
GAME-THEORETIC IMPLICATIONS OF OMNISCIENCE, OMNIPOTENCE,
IMMORTALITY, AND INCOMPREHENSIBILITY. Springer, 1983/2007.
Brams, Steven J. SUPERPOWER GAMES: APPLYING GAME THEORY TO
SUPERPOWER CONFLICT. Yale University Press, 1985.
Brams, Steven J. NEGOTIATION GAMES: APPLYING GAME THEORY TO
BARGAINING AND ARBITRATION. Routledge, 1990/2003.
Brams, Steven J. MATHEMATICS AND DEMOCRACY: DESIGNING BETTER
VOTING AND FAIR-DIVISION PROCEDURES. Princeton University Press,
2008.
Brams, Steven J. GAME THEORY AND THE HUMANITIES: BRIDGING TWO
WORLDS. MIT Press, 2011.
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Brams, Steven J., and Peter C. Fishburn. APPROVAL VOTING. Birkhäuser Boston,
1983/2007.
Brams, Steven J., and D. Marc Kilgour. GAME THEORY AND NATIONAL
SECURITY. Basil Blackwell, 1988.
Brams, Steven J., and Alan D. Taylor. FAIR DIVISION: FROM CAKE-CUTTING TO
DISPUTE RESOLUTION. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Brandenburger, Adam, and Barry J. Nalebuff. CO-OPETITION. New York:
Doubleday, 1996.
Brandt, Felix, et al. (eds.). HANDBOOK OF COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL CHOICE.
Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Bryant, Jim. ACTING STRATEGICALLY USING DRAMA THEORY. CRC Press,
2016.
Chwe, Michael Suk-Young. RATIONAL RITUAL: CULTURE, COORDINATION,
AND COMMON KNOWLEDGE. Princeton University Press, 2001.
Chwe, Michael Suk-Young. JANE AUSTEN, GAME THEORIST. Princeton University
Press, 2013.
Erikson, Paul. THE WORLD GAME THEORISTS MADE. University of Chicago
Press, 2016.
Felsenthal, Dan S., and Moshé Machover. THE MEASUREMENT OF VOTING
POWER: THEORY AND PRACTICE, PROBLEMS AND PARADOXES.
Edward Elgar, 1998.
Felsenthal, Dan S., and Moshé Machover (eds.). ELECTORAL SYSTEMS:
PARADOXES, ASSUMPTIONS, AND PROCEDURES. Springer, 2012.
Fisher, Len. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS: GAME THEORY IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
Basic, 2008.
Gehlback, Scott. FORMAL MODELS OF DOMESTIC POLITICS. Cambridge
University Press, 2013.
Gilboa, Itzhak, and David Schmeidler. A THEORY OF CASE-BASED DECISIONS.
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Heckelman, Jac C., and Nicholas R. Miller (eds.). HANDBOOK OF SOCIAL CHOICE
AND VOTING. Edward Elgar, 2015.
Howard, Nigel. PARADOXES OF RATIONALITY: THEORY OF METAGAMES
AND POLITICAL BEHAVIOR. MIT Press, 1971.
Humphreys, Macartan. POLITICAL GAMES: MATHEMATICAL INSIGHTS ON
FIGHTING, VOTING, LYING & OTHER AFFAIRS OF STATE. W. W.
Norton, 2017.
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Israel, Giorgio, and Ana Millán Gasca. THE WORLD AS A MATHEMATICAL

GAME: JOHN VON NEUMANN AND TWENTIETH CENTURY SCIENCE.
Birkhäuser, 2009.
Kaminski, Marek M. GAMES PRISONERS PLAY: THE TRAGICOMIC WORLDS
OF POLISH PRISON. Princeton University Press, 2004.
Konrad, Kai A. STRATEGY AND DYNAMICS IN CONTESTS. Oxford University
Press, 2009.
Kuhn, Harold W. (ed.). CLASSICS IN GAME THEORY. Princeton University Press,
1997.
Leonard, Robert. VON NEUMANN, MORGENSTERN, AND THE CREATOIN OF
GAME THEORY: FROM CHESS TO SOCIAL SCIENCE, 1900-1960.
Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Levin, Simon A. (ed.). GAMES, GROUPS, AND THE GLOBAL GOOD. Springer,
2009.
McAdams, David. GAME-CHANGER: GAME THEORY AND THE ART OF
TRANSFORMING STRATEGIC SITUATIONS. W.W. Norton, 2014.
McDonald, John. THE GAME OF BUSINESS. Doubleday, 1975.
McLean, Iain, and Arnold B. Urken (eds.). CLASSICS OF SOCIAL CHOICE.
University of Michigan Press, 1995.
Mailath, George J., and Larry Samuelson. REPEATED GAMES AND REPUTATIONS:
LONG-RUN RELATIONSHIPS. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Manlove, David F. ALGORITHMICS OF MATCHING UNDER PREFERENCES.
World Scientific, 2013.
Maskin, Eric, and Amartya Sen. THE ARROW IMPOSSIBILITY THEOREM.
Columbia University Press, 2014.
Milgrom, Paul. PUTTING AUCTION THEORY TO WORK. Cambridge University
Press, 2004.
Mor, Ben D. DECISION AND INTERACTION IN CRISIS: A MODEL OF
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS BEHAVIOR. Praeger, 1993.
Moulin, Hervé J. FAIR DIVISION AND COLLECTIVE WELFARE. MIT Press, 2003
Muzzio, Douglas. WATERGATE GAMES: STRATEGIES, CHOICES, OUTCOMES.
New York University Press, 1982.
Myerson, Michael I. POLITICAL NUMERACY: MATHEMATICAL PERSPECTIVES
ON OUR CHAOTIC CONSTITUTION. W.W. Norton, 2002.
Nasar, Sylvia. A BEAUTIFUL MIND. Simon and Schuster, 1998.
Nisan, Noam, et al. (eds.). ALGORITHMIC GAME THEORY. Cambridge University
 7

Press, 2007.
Novak Stéphanie, and Jon Elster. MAJORITY DECISIONS: PRINCIPOLES AND
PRACTICES. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
O’Neill, Barry. HONOR, SYMBOLS, AND WAR. University of Michigan Press, 1999.
Perea, Andrés. EPISTEMIC GAME THEORY: REASONING AND CHOICE.
Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Poundstone, William. PRISONER’S DILEMMA: JOHN VON NEUMANN, GAME
THEORY, AND THE PUZZLE OF THE BOMB. Doubleday, 1992.
Pukelsheim, Friedrich. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION: APPORTIONMENT
METHODS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS. Springer, 2014.
Regenwetter, Michel, et al. BEHAVIORAL SOCIAL CHOICE: PROBABILISTIC
MODELS, STATISTICAL INFERENCE, AND APLICATIONS. Cambridge
University Press, 2006.
Riker, William H. THE THEORY OF POLITICAL COALITIONS. Yale University
Press, 1962.
Riker, William H. LIBERALISM AGAINST POPULISM: A CONFRONTATION
BETWEEN THE THEORY OF DEMOCRACY AND THE THEORY OF
SOCIAL CHOICE. Freeman, 1982.
Riker, William H. THE ART OF POLITICAL MANIPULATION. Yale University
Press, 1986.
Riker, William H. THE STRATEGY OF RHETORIC. Yale University Press, 1996.
Robertson, Jack, and William Webb. CAKE-CUTTING ALGORITHMS: BE FAIR IF
YOU CAN. A K Peters, 1998.
Robinson, David, and David Goforth. THE TOPOLOGY OF THE 2 X 2 GAMES: A
NEW PERIODIC TABLE. Routledge, 2005.
Robinson, E. Arthur, Jr., and Daniel H. Ullman. A MATHEMATICAL LOOK AT
POLITICS, 2nd ed. CRC Press, 2017.
Roth, Alvin E. WHO GETS WHAT—AND WHY: THE NEW ECONOMICS OF
MATHMAKING AND MARKET DESIGN. Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2015.
Saari, Donald G. DISPOSING DICTATORS, DEMYSTIFYING VOTING
PARADOXES: SOCIAL CHOICE ANALYSIS. Cambridge University Press,
2008.
Schelling, Thomas C. MICROMOTIVES AND MACROBEHAVIOR. Norton, 1978.
Schelling, Thomas C. THE STRATEGY OF CONFLICT. Harvard University Press,
1960.
Shepsle, Kenneth A. ANALYZING POLITICS: RATIONALITY, BEHAVIOR, AND
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INSTITUTIONS, 2nd ed. W. W. Norton, 2010.

Shapira, Haim. GLADIATORS, PIRATES AND GAMES OF TRUST: HOW GAME
THEORY, STRATEGY, AND PROBABILITY RULE OUT LIVES. Watkins,
2017.
Sigmund, Karl. THE CALCULUS OF SELFISHNESS. Princeton University Press,
2010.
Sosnick, Stephen H. WHICH ELECTION SYSTEM IS BEST? A COMPREHENSIVE
COMPARISON OF WORLD WIDE ELECTION SYSTEMS. Amazon, 2016.
Szpiro, Geoge G. NUMBERS RULE: THE VEXING MATHEMATICS OF
DEMOCRACY, FROM PLATO TO THE PRESENT. Princeton University
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Taylor, Alan D. SOCIAL CHOICE AND THE MATHEMATICS OF MANIPULATON.
Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Taylor, Alan D., and Allison M. Pacelli. MATHEMATICS AND POLITICS:
STRATEGY, VOTING, POWER AND PROOF, 2nd ed. Springer, 2008.
Tsebelis, George. NESTED GAMES: RATIONAL CHOICE IN COMPARATIVE
POLITICS. University of California Press, 1990.
Vajda, Steven. MATHEMATICAL GAMES AND HOW TO PLAY THEM. Ellis
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Wainwright, Michael. GAME THEORY AND POSTWAR AMERICAN
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MISTAKES. Stanford University Press, 2011.
Wallis, W. D. THE MATHEMATICS OF ELECTIONS AND VOTING. Springer,
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Weintraub, E. Roy (ed.). TOWARD A HISTORY OF GAME THEORY. Duke
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Winter, Eyal. FEELING SMART: EMOTIONS ARE MORE RATIONAL THAN WE
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