Preliminaries: 1. Neoliberalism; 2. Prisoner's Dilemma; Part I. War: Introduction; 3. Assurance; 4. Deterrence; Part II. Government: Introduction; 5. Hobbesian anarchy; 6. Social contract; 7. Unanimity; 8. Consent; 9. Collective action; Part III. Evolution: Introduction; 10. Selfish gene; 11. Tit for tat; Conclusion; 12. Pax Americana.
Using the theory of Prisoner's Dilemma, Prisoners of Reason explores how neoliberalism departs from classic liberalism and how it rests on game theory.
S. M. Amadae is a research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has held positions as an assistant professor of political science at the Ohio State University and an associate professor of political science at the Central European University. Amadae's first book, Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism (2003), was awarded the American Political Science Association's J. David Greenstone book award for History and Politics in 2004. This thought-provoking political theorist who works on the foundations of liberalism and the philosophy of political economy has also contributed articles to the Journal of Economic Methodology, History of European Ideas, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Economics and Philosophy, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Ethics, and Idealistic Studies. Amadae graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and has held appointments at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, the New School, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
'Based on a far more nuanced understanding of the technicalities of
rational choice theory than previous critiques, Prisoners of Reason
can be much more incisive in exploring the field's entanglements
between the positive and the normative. One can disagree with
Amadae about where to lay responsibility for modern ideologies
while still finding important food for thought about the sometimes
doleful uses of social science in modern society.' Randall Calvert,
Washington University, St Louis
'In a deep re-thinking, S. M. Amadae shows that game-theoretic
thinking, especially in the form of the Prisoner's Dilemma,
underpins not only American nuclear strategy, but neoliberalism in
the domestic political economy and also multiple arguments from a
different part of the political spectrum for the powerful role of
institutions in international politics. Far from being
value-neutral, this way of thinking has changed more than reflected
much of American policy and life.' Robert Jervis, Adlai E.
Stevenson Professor of International Politics, Columbia
University
'S. M. Amadae has a wonderfully arresting thesis concerning why
winning the Cold War has proved so disappointing. Game theory's
strategic model of rational agency became the animating model of
liberal society. We lost the Classical liberal 'no-harm' principle
and gained the 'no-holds barred' premise of today's neoliberalism.
This is a forensic analysis of how game theory has in this way led
us astray.' Shaun Hargreaves Heap, King's College London
'A groundbreaking study of the appalling political consequences of
a disastrously impoverished and distressingly dominant
understanding of human rationality.' Stephen Holmes, New York
University School of Law
'S. M. Amadae has written a fascinating account that links the most
important recent advances in social science with major events in
political, military, and intellectual history in the twentieth
century. This book adds to our understanding of economic and social
theories through an in-depth analysis of people involved and
institutions of that time.' Jerry Green, Harvard University,
Massachusetts
'Prisoners of Reason is an impressive, indeed encyclopedic,
overview and critique of the use of game theory to analyze social
and political life - from theory to policy. Even those of us
friendly to game-theoretic analysis will better appreciate its
limits and abuses, and the narrow view of human motivation with
which it has been too-often associated.' Gerald Gaus, James E.
Rogers Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona
'Bravo! … Prisoners of Reason is a genuinely impressive
achievement. It provides an arresting and persuasive account of the
origins of neo-liberalism and so much more.' Martin Jay, Ehrman
Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
'S. M. Amadae's Prisoners of Reason is a brilliant contribution. It
confidently and lucidly navigates the recondite literature of game
theory and nuclear strategy, and provides a revealing and
persuasive analysis of the dire implications of the neoliberal
model of personhood that they inform. The chapters on public choice
and law and economics are masterful. The analysis is especially
effective for revealing the falsehood that these ideas are a
continuation of classical liberalism in James M. Buchanan's case in
particular. The discussion of Buchanan and Rawls is insightful for
understanding their strange early 1970s pairing, and illuminates
Buchanan's will to power and reliance on force vs. Rawls's emphasis
on justice. Especially powerful, though, and urgent for instructors
to consider is Amadae's argument about how the pedagogy of
Prisoner's Dilemma actually creates the predatory neoliberal
subject. So chilling, and yet it makes perfect sense once
explained. Bravissma!' Nancy MacLean, William H. Chafe Professor of
History and Public Policy, Duke University
'Amadae examines the social and political consequences of
neoliberal capitalism's dominance in American policy, concluding
that this model of rational choice has broken with the liberal
principles of no-harm, social contract and collective action, and
has narrowed our understanding of human motivation.' Survival:
Global Politics and Strategy
'… a thoughtful examination of the fundamental assumptions on which
modern society is based.' Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs
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