Le droit saisi par le jeu

In: Droit et société: revue internationale de théorie du droit et de sociologie juridique, Band 17, Heft 1, S. 57-83

Abstract

Game theory, rallying point of the social sciences, has corne to the law over the last fifteen years. Its first focus has been the nature of spontaneous orders among individuals, that is the conditions under which individuals will find it profitable to co-operate, much as they are aware of the possibility of exploiting one another. Besides this first topic, research has recently been focused on a second one, that of the origin and functioning of the State. Game theory allows one to investigate the nature of the supposed 'public goods', whose provision is thought to be the justification for the 'social contract' founding the State. Game theory also allows one to study the dynamics of power as a founding cause of the State. Finally, game theory helps one to understand the paradox of the indefinitely growing government in modem social democracies. Altogether, game theory makes plain just how much of our fundamental legal institutions must be seen as responses to the paradoxes of human interaction.