An Abstract Model of Historical Processes

A game theoretic model is presented which attempts to simulate, at a very abstract level, power struggles in the social world. In the model, agents can benefit or harm each other, to varying degrees and with differing levels of influence. The agents play a dynamic, noncooperative, perfect information game where the goal is to maximize payoffs based on positional utility and intertemporal preference, while being constrained by social inertia. Agents use the power they have in order to get more of it, both in an absolute and relative sense. More research is needed to assess the model’s empirical validity.