Advancing Conflict Research Through Computational Approaches

Emanuel Deutschmann,Jan Lorenz,Luis G Nardin

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29333-8_1

Abstract

Conflict, from small-scale verbal disputes to large-scale violent war between nations, is one of the most fundamental elements of social life and a central topic in social science research. The main argument of this book is that computational approaches have enormous potential to advance conflict research, e.g., by making use of the ever-growing computer processing power to model complex conflict dynamics, by drawing on innovative methods from simulation to machine learning, and by building on vast quantities of conflict-related data that emerge at unprecedented scale in the digital age. Our goal is (a) to demonstrate how such computational approaches can be used to improve our understanding of conflict at any scale and (b) to call for the consolidation of computational conflict research as a unified field of research that collectively aims to gather such insights. We first give an overview of how various computational approaches have already impacted on conflict research and then guide through the different chapters that form part of this book. Finally, we propose to map the field of computational conflict research by positioning studies in a two-dimensional space depending on the intensity of the analyzed conflict and the chosen computational approach.

Highlights

From small-scale, non-violent disputes to large-scale war between nations, conflict is a central element of social life and has captivated the collective consciousness for millennia
We argue that computational conflict research, i.e., the use of computational approaches to study conflict, can advance conflict research through at least three major innovative pathways: 1. The identification of spatio-temporal dynamics and mechanisms behind conflicts through simulation models that allow to track the interaction of actors in conflict scenarios and to understand the emergence of aggregated, macro-level consequences
We offer a visualization that allows to map the field of computational conflict research in a two-dimensional space (Sect. 4)

Summary

Introduction

From small-scale, non-violent disputes to large-scale war between nations, conflict is a central element of social life and has captivated the collective consciousness for millennia. 432), conflict is understood in this book as opposition, tensions, clashes, enmities, struggles, or fights of various intensities between social units This definition is deliberately broad: Social units can range from small groups of individuals without formal organization to institutions with differentiated organizational structure to large and complex units such as entire nation-states or even batches of countries. Some studies in this book will deal with the former, covering social, non-violent conflicts such as clashes between political parties in parliamentary debates or normative shifts in social networks, while others will deal with the latter, including the spatial structure of civil war violence or the extortion mechanisms rebel groups use to exploit enterprises.. We offer a visualization that allows to map the field of computational conflict research in a two-dimensional space (Sect. 4)

The Rise of Computational Social Science

Computational Approaches to Conflict Research

The Contributions of This Book

Findings

Chapter 9