When fixed resources must be split across several contests won by local superiority, the weaker side wins by concentrating and randomising.
Borel's 1921 problem. It is why insurgents concentrate against isolated posts and why underdog electoral campaigns target a handful of districts rather than campaigning everywhere.
In practice
- A challenger party stands candidates in eleven marginal seats and ignores the other six hundred.
- A small brand buys every advertising slot in one city rather than a thin national campaign, and takes the city.
- Standing
- Used to model electoral targeting, advertising, and military allocation.
- Subject
- Games & Strategic Interaction
- Essay
- The recurring shapes of conflict and cooperation