Looking for a «genuine Science of Politics». William H. Riker and Game Theoretical Turn in Political Science
Date:
I presented this updated version of my paper on Riker at the Rephere (Réseau en Épistémologie et en Histoire de la Pensée Économique Récente) conference in Paris: Recent Shifts in the Boundaries of Economics: Philosophy and History.
Abstract
The paper aims to show how the formal revolution in economics has influenced the developments of Rational Choice and Game Theory in Political Science. My focus will be on American political scientist William H. Riker (1920-1993). I want to show how Riker used game theory and adapted it to fulfill his disciplinary agenda, contrasting the main trends in postwar American Political Science. My thesis is that, in doing so, Riker stressed some aspects of the theory that differed quite sharply from postwar mathematical economics to which game theory belonged. Sections 1 and 2 describe his education and intellectual life until the late 1950s, showing how he became acquainted with game theory and how American political science as a discipline was changing in that crucial decade. Section 3 presents his main arguments in The Theory of Political Coalitions, focusing on his working through game theory to produce a suitable model of political coalition-building. Section 4 discusses some methodological aspects of Riker`s commitment to game theory and economic analysis. In particular, I aim to outline and discuss an apparent dilemma in his theoretical production, namely his resting on an outdated idea of economics, despite his use of game-theoretic analysis. Finally, Section 5 offers concluding remarks