What is "The Great Game?"

“When you play the game of thrones you win or you die.”
Welcome to The Great Game, the Public Servant’s blog about international security and foreign affairs. Over the next few months you’ll hear from a variety of voices at the Bush School on a variety of engaging topics related to the world around us. Hopefully, you’ll learn a bit about what makes nations tick, why they go to war, and how we – though pawns – can manage conflict.

This brings me to our title – The Great Game. If you read Wikipedia, you’ll find that “The Great Game” dates back to the 19^th century when Russia and Britain jockeyed for influence in Central Asia. Our intention is broader. To us, the Great Game is the contest of nations for influence and power irrespective of region or time (though we’ll focus on the present).

Fortunes are won and lost, nations rise and fall, empires are forged, broken, and replaced. What makes this game so great is that the stakes are astronomical. As Tony Kushner writes, "anything - everything can be lost." Unlike Antonius Block, who challenges Death to a game of chess, we have limited control over our fate.

The affairs of nations are a game not only of calculation but also of chance. How we as a nation behave depends on our assumptions: What is a rational actor? Are states unitary? How does domestic politics affect foreign policy? What is the role of leadership? Of women? Of food? Of energy? Of institutions? Of ideology? Of you and me?

These are questions we’ll debate in the coming months. We welcome your respectful and informed commentary and invite you to play.

Three Soldiers Shortly to Leave for an Officer Cadet Training Unit Playing Chess
by Rodrigo Moynihan (1910-1990)