Thursday, November 12, 2015

Movie with the Most IR

I just returned from seeing Bridge of Spies with Mrs. Spew and @stephaniecarvin.  We agreed that the movie had a heap of IR in it, more so than most.  How so?  (No spoiler break since it is all factual, more or less).
  1. Cold War
  2. Spies
  3. Desperate desire for recognition (East Germany)
  4. Principal-agent problems everywhere
    1. Donovan was an agent whose agenda was wider than that of the CIA
    2. East Germany's interests were not identical to Russia's.
    3. The spy was a very good agent, but its principal could not be sure.
    4. Gary Powers was an agent who did not do what he was supposed to do.
  5. Prisoners' Dilemma: making agreements in the absence of trust and enforcement mechanisms
  6. Chicken: a game within the PD as Donovan was seeking to get a 2 for 1
What am I forgetting?

Oh, and the previous winner in most IR in a movie?  Phantom Menace:
  1. Trade War
  2. Diversionary Theories of War 
  3. Principal-agent problems
  4. Relative power (always a bigger fish)
Ok, maybe not.

Anyhow, Bridge of Spies was very good, but too scary for PhD students: "my only copy of my dissertation!"

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