Game Theory in Brexit
Game Theory has an important role in the way humans interact and make decisions. Even on a daily basis, decisions are constantly made on the basis of evaluating outcomes and then choosing the best option depending on the possible outcomes. In politics, game theory can also be seen as a rationale of some of the decisions made by our world’s leaders. In particular, the United Kingdom’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his advisor, Dominic Cummings, are apparently “fans” of using game theory in order to make decisions.
In the article, I thought it was interesting that the author, Abhinay Muthoo, asserts Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings have been incorrectly making decisions due to their lack of understanding of who is really “playing” in their game of negotiating for Brexit. Muthoo believes that the duo think there are only two “players” in the game: the UK government and EU. However, he thinks that they are forgetting to include the Members of parliament (MPs) into the game. He thinks that the MPs are important players in the game due to their overall involvement with Brexit. From the article, it seems clear to me that Prime Minister Johnson’s decision in this game is leaving Brexit regardless of whether a deal is reached for the movement. By choosing to dismiss/think about other possibilities, the PM clearly thinks this is his “dominant strategy.” Therefore, his lack of foresight seems like it will cause unnecessary issues with not only the PMs but also the people of Britain. According to the article, Cummings and Johnson are using a game theory concept of “brinkmanship” which means he is intentionally creating an “intolerable risk” in order for the opponent to back down and make some concessions. While I am not too familiar with the newly introduced concept, it does seem highly likely that he is doing this in order to get the EU to concede.