DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0978-6 ISSN: 3103-3881

Looking for a Science of Politics

Gianluca Damiani
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This book contributes to the history of game theory by examining how the Theory of Games entered political science. This transition was largely driven by the work of the American political scientist William H. Riker, who, although trained in a traditional approach to the discipline, embraced game theory and formal political analysis in the late 1950s. His efforts were central to the emergence of Positive Political Theory. The book refines the conventional narrative on game theory’s role in political science, showing its adoption as an autonomous intellectual trajectory rather than a mere case of economic imperialism. Methodologically, it offers a historical reconstruction of Riker’s early works, especially The Theory of Political Coalitions (1962), combining critical analysis with extensive archival research and interviews to trace the intellectual and institutional forces shaping this transformation.

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