1. Collective security,
game theory and
international relations
Providence Day School
25 February 2013
Adam Seldis
www.mrseldis.com

2. Is collective security
acting in a country’s
best interests?

3. Card game
Player 2
Red Black
1 0
Red
1 3
Player 1
3 2
Black
0 2

4. Player A Player B Total
Pair 1
Pair 2
Pair 3
Pair 4
Pair 5
Pair 6
Pair 7
Pair 8
Pair 9
Pair 10

5. Prisoners’ Dilemma
Prisoner B
Deny Confess
1 yr 0 yrs
Deny
1 yr 3 yrs
Prisoner A
3 yrs 2 yrs
Confess
0 yrs 2 yrs

6. How does game theory
apply to international
relations?

7. Afghan War
Washington
Escalate Negotiate Pull out
Escalate
Taliban
Negotiate

8. Afghan War
Washington
Escalate Negotiate Pull out
Military
Military win for Military win for
Escalate stalemate =
Taliban Taliban
more killings
Taliban
Military win for Stalemate = no Political win for
Negotiate Washington more killings Taliban

9. Afghan War
Washington
Escalate Negotiate Pull out
-2 -3 -5
Escalate
-1 1 3
Taliban
1 0 -3
Negotiate
-3 0 3

10. War or peace?
Country 2
War Peace
1 0
War
1 3
Country 1
3 2
Peace
0 2

11. Collective security

13. ‘League of Nations’.
Cartoon taken from
Punch magazine.
28 July 1920

14. To what extent was WW1 caused by
collective security?

15. Is collective security
acting in a country’s
best interests?

16. Other examples?
• Cold War - USA vs USSR
• Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands - Japan vs China
• Falklands/Malvinas Islands - UK vs Argentina
• Nuclear weapons - Iran vs Israel
• http://tinyurl.com/splitorsteal