Prisoners of Reason

Prisoners of Reason: Game Theory and Neoliberal Political Economy investigates how postwar game theory and rational choice theory transformed classical liberal ideals of fairness, the no-harm principle, and respect for promises into a neoliberal model of society based on strategic self-interest.

Amadae reconstructs the development of game theory—from nuclear strategy and Cold War security studies to economics and public choice theory—and argues that its core assumptions about human motivation, individual rationality, and the reduction of all values to a single metric underpin a coercive, contract‑like social order that undermines genuine consent and collective action.

By tracing this intellectual shift, the book contends that neoliberal subjectivity is not inevitable and calls for rethinking political and economic theory beyond the constraints imposed by game-theoretic reasoning.