Mathematics and Politics: Strategy, Voting, Power, and Proof - Tapa dura

From the reviews of the second edition:

“Mathematics and Politics is the fruit of undergraduate mathematics courses taught by the authors. The primary audience is political and social science majors. ... The writing style is appropriate for the intended audience with the understanding that the students/readers have some familiarity with political science economics or sociology. ... Overall the book serves as a useful quantitative introduction to several of the covered topics. ... Faculty in the social sciences should strongly consider Mathematics and Politics as a resource/reference.” (J. Douglas Barrett, Technometrics, Vol. 53 (1), February, 2011)

“It is intended to serve as a text for social science and humanities students that will highlight the power and utility of mathematics. ... if you are considering a course as described above, this textbook deserves to be the one that will entice you into taking the plunge. And if you simply want to educate yourself in areas of social science mathematics that have only recently started to get the attention they deserve, Mathematics and Politics deserves your strong consideration.” (Edward W. Packel, SIAM Review, Vol. 52 (4), 2010)

As a text for an undergraduate mathematics course for nonmajors, Mathematics and Politics requires no prerequisites in either area while the underlying philosophy involves minimizing algebraic computations and focusing instead on some conceptual aspects of mathematics in the context of important real-world questions in political science.

Five major topics are covered including a model of escalation, game theoretic models of international conflict, yes-no voting systems, political power, and social choice. Each topic is discussed in an introductory chapter and revisited in more depth in a later chapter. This new edition has added co-author, Allison Pacelli, and two new chapters on "Fairness" and "More Fairness." The examples and the exercises have been updated and enhanced throughout.

Reviews from first edition:

This book is well written and has much math of interest. While it is pitched at a non-math audience there is material here that will be new and interesting to the readers...

-Sigact News

For mathematicians, Taylor's book shows how the social sciences make use of mathematical thinking, in the form of axiomatic systems, and offers a chance to teach this kind of thinking to our students.

- The College Mathematics Journal

The writing is crisp and the sense of excitement about learning mathematics is seductive. The political conflict examples are well thought out and clear.

-Michael C. Munger