Thomas Schelling - The Strategy of Conflict (1960)

The Strategy of Conflict (1960)

The Strategy of Conflict, which Schelling published in 1960, pioneered the study of bargaining and strategic behavior in what Schelling refers to as "conflict behavior". It is considered one of the hundred books that have been most influential in the West since 1945. In this book he introduced concepts like focal point and credible commitment. Chapter headings include A Reorientation of Game Theory, Randomization of Promises and Threats, and Surprise Attack: A Study of Mutual Distrust.

In an article celebrating Schelling's Nobel Prize for Economics Michael Kinsley, Washington Post op‑ed columnist and former student of Schelling's, summarizes the professor's reorientation of game theory as follows:

"ou're standing at the edge of a cliff, chained by the ankle to someone else. You'll be released, and one of you will get a large prize, as soon as the other gives in. How do you persuade the other guy to give in, when the only method at your disposal – threatening to push him off the cliff – would doom you both?"

"Answer: You start dancing, closer and closer to the edge. That way, you don't have to convince him that you would do something totally irrational: plunge him and yourself off the cliff. You just have to convince him that you are prepared to take a higher risk than he is of accidentally falling off the cliff. If you can do that, you win."