summary
Managing water resources systems usually involves conflicts. Behaviors of stakeholders, who might be
willing to contribute to improvements and reach a win–win situation, sometimes result in worse conditions
for all parties. Game theory can identify and interpret the behaviors of parties to water resource
problems and describe how interactions of different parties who give priority to their own objectives,
rather than system’s objective, result in a system’s evolution. Outcomes predicted by game theory often
differ from results suggested by optimization methods which assume all parties are willing to act
towards the best system-wide outcome. This study reviews applicability of game theory to water
resources management and conflict resolution through a series of non-cooperative water resource games.
The paper illustrates the dynamic structure of water resource problems and the importance of considering
the game’s evolution path while studying such problems.