The book extends Axelrod's method of applying the results of game theory, in particular that derived from analysis of the Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) problem, to real world situations.

Axelrod explains the Tit for tat (TFT or T4T) strategy emerged as the most robust option in early IPD tournaments on computer.

Philosopher and political economist Francis Fukuyama, writing for Foreign Affairs, praises the book for showing that realist models, which assume that in situations lacking a single sovereign actor anarchy will necessarily result, are too simplistic.

Fukuyuma expresses concern, however, that the game theory approaches aren't sufficiently complex to model real international relations, because they assume a world with large numbers of simple actors.

Fukuyama holds that, instead, the real world consists of a small number of highly complex actors, thus potentially limiting the applicability of Axelrod's analysis.