ABSTRACT
Game theory is a mathematical approach to individual decision making that employs games as paradigms of rational decision-maker interactions. Used to study a variety of social, economic, and political issues, such as arms races, legislative coalition formation, military strategy, regulative public policy, voting behavior, and even aspects of marriage, game theoretic models delineate those decisions actors should make when confronted with competing policy alternatives or decision consequences. Far from seeing games as trivial, game theorists posit that game decisions exhibit the same rules or forces that drive more complex political and other social interactions and outcomes.
