ABOUT THE BOOK

Terrorism, piracy and Low Intensity Maritime Operations are certainly not games, and neither are the responses to thwart them! The two sides are nonetheless locked in an endless mind game with each trying to out-think the other. Game Theory is a branch of applied mathematics that has been used extensively in fields ranging from economics and political science to psychology and biology. The `game` involves two or more players making decisions so as to maximise their returns. In attempting to do so, they must anticipate the response of their adversaries, sometimes even in the absence of precise information. It is essentially about `outguessing` the adversary, by putting yourself in the opponents` position. Since a logical adversary would presumably do the same - the interplay between the players and the choices they must make often mirror real-life situations. The book aims to introduce the concept of Game Theory to the uninitiated reader, with the focus on its application to combating terrorism, piracy and for Low Intensity Maritime Operations. Whilst the subject itself involves a fair amount of mathematics, the attempt here has been to emphasise the underlying logic and strategies rather than the full mathematical details.

ABOUT Author

Captain Arun Pratap Golaya VSM is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned in the Indian Navy in January 1992. In addition to serving afloat in frontline warships as the Navigating Officer, he has held a number of important appointments ashore. These include Joint Director, Net Centric Operations at Naval Headquarters and a tenure in the planning    staff at Command Headquarters. The officer has commanded three ships. Captain Golaya is a recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) for distinguished service and has also been Commended by the Chief of Naval Staff as well as the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command.