Locus (Jul 2023)
Het spel en de regels. Game studies voor politiek theoretici en cultuurwetenschappers
Abstract
Game studies offers numerous starting points for research by political theorists and cultural scholars. Politics is largely a regulated game, with discussion of the rules of the game always part of the political struggle. Traditionally, game theory has been one of the most influential approaches in the social sciences, and there is a lively debate about the extent to which such models provide insight into democratic processes. Using a number of political games, I discuss the benefits and limitations of this view of democracy. In doing so, I draw on insights from the much less frequently applied cultural approaches to games, as opposed to a systems approach from rational choice. Those leave more room for an open approach, and changing the rules of the game. An important thinker within game studies is the French sociologist Roger Caillois, who further developed Johan Huizinga's ideas from Homo ludens using the distinction between competition (agôn), theater (representation), chance (alea, the role of chance) and vertigo (dizziness, sense illusionment, the physical aspect of dragging the audience along). This political-cultural approach offers new insight into the possibilities and limitations of political games, as well as broader aspects of democratic cultures.
