Gandhi was a very good game theorist. Analysing only one statement is not enough to conclude that he was a bad game theorist.
 
A lot of game theory is devoted to playing strong hands... hence it may be difficult to appreciate Gandhi's strategy (one for a weak hand). The British were very strong militarily so he worked on their mind and their finances and chose the right time to take them and get rid of them. His strategies to control the Congress party were also very effective and subtle.
 
Many a time Gandhi is seen as a peaceful revolutionary but there are also many counterpoints to say that he was one of the most violent ones becasuse he set out to wreck the mind and the conscience of the opponent without touching him physically. One needs to define violence correctly before labelling Gandhi as being non violent !
 
 
A very good analysis of his strategies have been done by John Kenneth Galbraith in his book Anatomy of Power. 
 
 
Koushik
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: jsamples
Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2001 8:19 PM
Subject: RE: books

 

"An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind"  -Gandhi 
 
It strikes me that Gandhi was not a very good game theorist.
 
John Samples
Cato Institute 

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