The Game of Brexit
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s advisor Dominic Cummings is apparently a “fan of game theory.” Thus, people believe that he is attempting to use the principles of game theory to figure out a strategy for Brexit that will be most beneficial to the British people. However, some are worried that Cummings has misjudged this game and may have made critical mistakes.
The two obvious players in Brexit are Britain and the EU. Therefore, Cummings is looking for the strategy against the EU with the highest payoff. However, he seems to have forgotten to account for the MPs: players who also have stakes in the game and can influence its outcome. He apparently did not realize that the MPs could affect his plan in such a major way.
Another potential mistake by Johnson and his team is their strategy of brinkmanship: presenting enough risk to the other player that they are forced to take one action rather than another. Johnson may be trying to present himself as being fully willing to leave the EU at whatever cost so that the EU is forced to negotiate with him for a better deal, as they do not want a no-deal Brexit. In other words, Johnson wants to ensure that the EU negotiates with him by giving them a dominant strategy (negotiation) that works for Johnson as well. However, Johnson’s brinkmanship is risky because it requires the other player to believe that he is ready to take any action to leave, even though this is a bad idea for Britain.
Of course, it is possible that game theory has not explicitly played a part in any of Johnson’s decisions. However, if Cummings has truly been basing his advice directly on game theory, we can assume that he seriously miscalculated the nature of the game, and this may lead to serious repercussions for Britain and Europe.
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-dominic-cummings-game-theory-boris-johnson-parliament-supreme-court-a9106926.html