STEVEN J. BRAMS

This procedure, called "adjusted winner," applies broadly, from divorce to business to international disputes. Based on a simple point-allocation system, it produces in hours, even minutes, resolutions that can -- and do -- take expert negotiators weeks and months to work out. What you really want to know is on which issues you will win, on which you will lose, and on which you will have to compromise. To this question, the authors bring a patented procedure that enables both parties to walk away with their maximum win-win potential.

Steven J. Brams' Theory of Moves, though based on the classical theory of games, proposes changes in its rules to render it a truly dynamic theory.By postulating that players think ahead not just to the immediate consequences of making moves, but also to the consequences of countermoves to these moves, counter-countermoves, and so on, it extends the strategic analysis of conflicts into the more distant future. It elucidates the role that different kinds of power - moving, order and threat - may have on conflict outcomes, and it also shows how misinformation affects player choices. Applied to a series of cases drawn from politics, economics, sociology, fiction and the Bible, the theory provides not only a parsimonious explanation of their outcomes, but also shows why they unfolded as they did.This book, which assumes no prior knowledge of game theory or special mathematical background, will be of interest to scholars and students throughout the social sciences.