At its best, politics can be a civilizing activity that preserves the peace, protects human rights, advances economic well-being, and encourages excellence in the arts and sciences. At its worst, however, politics—particularly for those on the losing side of the struggle for power—makes for war, tyranny, economic ruin, and barbarism. In Chapter 1, we explore politics at its best and at its worst by examining some classic models in history, literature, and political philosophy. Certain patterns emerge, which we call political games.

Can the serious business of politics be called a game? We do not mean to imply a frivolous pastime. We do, however, mean to suggest that all politics, as contests, have certain basic elements commonly found in other kinds of games: players, stakes, rules, and strategies and tactics.

To better understand the variety of political games, we can construct a scheme called the destruction-accommodation-conversion continuum. At one end of the continuum are games aimed at the complete destruction of the opposing player. In the middle of the continuum are games of accommodation, marked by cooperation, bargaining, and balloting. At the other end of the continuum are games characterized by the peaceful conversion of the opponent. This pattern of politics stresses voluntary agreement and emphasizes free choice.

Utilizing these concepts we present a number of dramatic games drawn from history, literature, and political theory. The first game is wipeout: the politics of destruction. To illustrate this game, we examine two types of examples: the brutal takeover of the island of Melos by the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War and the more contemporary cases of destructive politics practiced by Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia (Kampuchea), and the terrorism campaign waged by al-Qaida.

The second game we explore is the lion and the fox: the politics of the nation-state. The thinking of Niccolò Machiavelli of Renaissance Italy serves to illustrate this game of political realism whereby leaders have a responsibility to protect their community’s vital interests with both force and craft. Above all, the ends justify the means. The contemporary world is filled with domestic and international examples of lion-and-fox politics, where self-interest and amoral behavior are prevalent.

The final game is civil disobedience: the politics of morality, and it has a long history. It is illustrated by Sophocles in Antigone, by Henry David Thoreau in his writings, by the nonviolent political action of Mohandas Gandhi in India, and by the civil rights crusade of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.