A country rarely decides its next move in isolation — it calculates, weighs what rivals and allies are likely to do, and adjusts accordingly. That calculation is exactly what Game Theory was built to model, which is why the Arab British Fellowship Training Academy developed this course on The Principles of Game Theory in Politics and International Relations for professionals who want to read conflict and negotiation the way strategists actually do.

The course walks through how competition drives decision-making during disputes, then connects that logic to the wider international regulatory system — the network of interdependence that binds states together even as each one guards its own security and interests. Participants come away able to apply game-theoretic thinking to real, current international situations rather than abstract textbook cases.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the decision-making techniques states adopt and interpret how they interact during conflicts and disputes.
• Connect contemporary international systems to Game Theory, and see how it draws on politics, economics, and sociology together.
• Compare virtual, realistic, and likely future international systems.
• Identify the key components of the international system, its principal parties, and the sources and mechanisms behind international laws and regulations.
• Apply methods for organising international projects, demarcating borders, and structuring long-term relationships between states.

Who should attend:

• Staff of international law organisations and government bodies handling foreign relations.
• Candidates for diplomatic missions and personnel in international and diplomatic affairs.
• Judges, lawyers, and professionals interested in international law.
• New officials in the diplomatic sector and staff of international relations offices.
• Students, graduates, and professionals entering embassies, consulates, ministries, and international organisations.

Module 1: The Logic of Strategic Decision-Making

• Core concepts of Game Theory and how they explain choices made under competition.
• Political games built around a single dominant strategy.

Module 2: Multiplayer Politics

• Multi-strategy games as they play out across the global political system.
• Games structured around a clearly dominant strategy, and what that reveals about state behaviour.

Module 3: Zero-Sum Politics and the Balance of Power

• The zero-sum game as applied to international relations, and its link to the balance-of-power principle.
• Core concepts underpinning the international system as a whole.

Module 4: The Legal Architecture Around State Behaviour

• International regulations and the major principles behind international law.
• International conventions as the practical mechanism through which these principles are applied.

Module 5: Rights, Duties and the Making of International Relations

• The rights and duties states hold within the global political system.
• How international relations has been defined across history, and its development into an independent political science.