Assoc. Prof. Serdar Güner of the Department of International Relations recently published “Art and IR Theory: Visual Semiotic Games” with Springer Press, Mathematics in Mind Series.
The book presents a game theoretic analysis of communication among IR theorists. It uses visual semiotics and structural abstract paintings of Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock as fields of ideational convergence. Players who are IR theorists select between strategies of signifier, icon, index and symbol based on Saussurean and Peircean semiotics, respectively. They assign meanings to the concept of structural constraints by Kenneth N. Waltz and the multiplicity of anarchies proposed by Alexander E. Wendt. The Nash equilibria of strategic interactions between players are interpreted according to theories of explanation in the philosophy of science. The book singlehandedly opens a new field of research in the discipline of international theories by combining antirealism and game theory.