Nora: The first number in each cell is the payoff for prisoner 1; the second number is the payoff for prisoner 2.
Not all games are prisoner's dilemmas. Game theory can also be used in situations where one player wins and the other loses, Zero-sum games. In military confrontations, one side wins and the other loses, or in international crises, one state may win (power or prestige), while the other may lose (power or face). Games may also be non-Zero sum with many players. In these situations, some of the parties may win, while others may lose. There are elements of both cooperation and conflict. In general, international relations is best conceptualized as a non-zero-sum game with many players, engaged in repeatedly over an extended time period.
There are advantages to using game theory as a simplification of the complex choices states make. Game theory forces both analysts and policymakers to examine assumptions systematically, helping to clarify the choices available and offering possibilities that may not have otherwise been explored. It helps the analyst and the policymaker to see not just their own state's position but also where the other state may stand. It permits simplicity; choices are seen as interdependent.
Yet there are also clear limitations to game theory. Game theory makes some critical assumptions: it assumes a unitary state, in which internal factors play little role in determining a state's preferences. It assumes that the unitary state acts rationally, that states choose the best overall option available. It gives arbitrary payoff structures in advance, whereas in reality states may not know the relative values attached to their various choices or those of the other side. It assumes that the game occurs one time, although most realize that much of international relations is really an extended set of games between the same actors. Thus, the outcome of multiple iterations—in which knowing the choice an actor made at one point in time helps each side to predict the other's choice at a subsequent time period—may be quite different from the one-time encounter. All of these criticisms are key points made by neoliberal institutionalists.