South Caucasus Games

Whether it be children playing or

state officials and military planners charting scenarios,

there are only three major types of games:

The most common is a zero-sum game.

It is a competitive see-saw like interaction.

When I go up, you go down.

I win when you lose

or vice versa.

But competition can get out of hand.

It can create rivalry that fuels animosity,

which, in turn, can trigger a conflict spiral.

When nations go to war,

each country and countless families pay a deadly price,

albeit not all equally.

Wars are minus-sum games.

In contrast, teaching and sharing book knowledge

are examples of a cooperative plus-sum game

where we all benefit.

It is the core basis for the advancement of global development.

Azerbaijan and Armenia currently view each other through the lens of a zero-sum game.

Each side wants to win at the expense of the other.

But in so doing,

they have created a far more dangerous minus-sum game.

Increased animosity, along with death and destruction of war, are the result.

A technological arms race of advanced weaponry has been unleashed

that hurtles towards mutual assured destruction.

What needs to be done

is to find new forms of mutual aid and cooperation.

And in so doing,

foster shared benefits and greater well-being.

Each generation must decide

what kind of game it intends to play.

Their future depends on it.

Alan Whitehorn

June 7, 2021

Alan Whitehorn is an Armenian Canadian poet and a professor emeritus of political science who participates in South Caucasus workshops.