Complexity in world politics : concepts and methods of a new paradigm / edited by Neil E. Harrison.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Harrison, Neil E.

Series:

SUNY series in global politics.

SUNY series in global politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International relations--Philosophy.

International relations.

International relations--Methodology.

Complexity (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (221 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite one hundred years of theorizing, scholars and practitioners alike are constantly surprised by international and global political events. The collapse of communism in Europe, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and 9/11 have demonstrated the inadequacy of current models that depict world politics as a simple, mechanical system. Complexity in World Politics shows how conventional theories oversimplify reality and illustrates how concepts drawn from complexity science can be adapted to increase our understanding of world politics and improve policy. In language free of jargon, the book's distinguished contributors explain and illustrate a complexity paradigm of world politics and define its central concepts. They show how these concepts can improve conventional models as well as generate new ideas, hypotheses, and empirical approaches, and conclude by outlining an agenda of theoretical development and empirical research to create and test complex systems theories of issue-areas of world politics.

Contents:

Thinking about the world we make / Neil E. Harrison

Complexity is more than systems theory / Neil E. Harrison and J. David Singer

Complexity and conflict resolution / Dennis J.D. Sandole

Understanding and coping with ethnic conflict and development issues in post-Soviet Eurasia / Walter C. Clemens, Jr.

Beyond regime theory : complex adaptation and the ozone depletion regime / Matthew J. Hoffmann

Agent-based norms in the study of ethnic norms and violence / Ravi Bhavnani

Alternative uses of simulation / Robert Axelrod

Signifying nothing? : what complex systems theory can and cannot tell us about global politics / David C. Earnest and James N. Rosenau

When worlds collide : reflections on the credible uses of agent-based models in international and global studies / Desmond Saunders-Newton

Complex systems and the practice of world politics / Neil E. Harrison.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780791481493

0791481492

9781429411875

1429411872

OCLC:

74813048