Game Theory and International Politics

Game theory as a toolkit for thinking about conflict — when rational actors with conflicting interests have to anticipate each other, what choices actually make sense? You work through the standard machinery (strategic and extensive form games, repeated play, incomplete information) and apply it to bargaining, deterrence, and surprise attack, with regular problem sets and a presentation component alongside the exams. It sits in the more formal corner of the IR curriculum and is useful preparation for security studies, foreign policy analysis, or any later work where you need to model state behavior rather than just describe it.