Geopolitical explanation of game theory

پژوهش ‎های جغرافیای سیاسی

Article 7, Volume 9, Issue 1 - Serial Number 33, March 2024, Pages 131-158   

Document Type: مقالات علمی -پژوهشی

DOI: 10.22067/pg.2024.84868.1244

Authors

Bagher Ghalibaf^{* 1}; Mahmood Vasegh¹; Hadi Ajili²; Shahabeddin Shafi³

¹Faculty member and Associate Professor of Political Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

²Faculty member and Associate Professor of International Relations, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran

³PhD student in Political Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Game theory is a well-known theory in political studies, international relations and interdisciplinary research, which is widely used in the analysis of phenomena in different dimensions and at the national, regional and global geographic levels. Although the concept of "competition" plays a key role in the drawing and formation of game theory, in spite of that, the scientific literature of geopolitical knowledge has not benefited from it to investigate the phenomena. For this purpose, the geopolitical explanation of game theory in geopolitical systems and the introduction of this concept to geopolitical analysis and explanation is the topic of the upcoming article. This article tries to answer the question of how to explain the structure and function of game theory in geographical environments with the approach of geopolitical systems. In response to this question and with an explanatory descriptive method based on Saunders' research methodology model, the hypothesis of the article is that "the theory of games in competitions, conflicts, cooperation and convergences and other patterns of geopolitical relations and in complex geopolitical systems with at least one objective geographical source deals with, has the role of modeling and drawing operational solutions, and by receiving data and values from geopolitics, it brings the complex geopolitical system to a new balance and order". The findings of the research show that game theory is the subject of social, political and international relations studies, and in particular, due to the centrality of "power and competition" in this theory, it is considered a topic of discussion in geopolitical science. Since the function of game theory is considered in geopolitical systems, the authors' interpretation of the concept of system is "complex geopolitical system" with the components of complexity theory.

Keywords

Geopolitics; Game Theory; Complexity Theory; Geopolitical Systems

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