International Relations Theory and Game Theory: Baroque Modeling Choices and Empirical Robustness

In: International political science review: the journal of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) = Revue internationale de science politique, Band 20, Heft 1, S. 23-47

Abstract

The increasing popularity of game modeling in international relations theory has fostered a tendency toward theoretical elegance to the detriment of empirical concerns. In this article attention is focused on the empirical implications of a series of choices that users of game theory must make when they model social interactions. In particular, possible trade-offs between theoretical complexity and empirical robustness are evaluated. This is done both abstractly and with specific references to recent modeling efforts in the fields of security and international political economy.