SFI Working Group: Modeling dynamics of violent radicalization in Western democracies
Abstract
Violent political conflict is a ubiquitous phenomenon in the modern world, being present in classic inter-state conflicts, both classic and modem civil war settings, insurgencies, and in terrorism, both domestic and international. Traditionally, most political violence has been localized in the same geographic region as the conflict with which it is associated. In international terrorism, in which the target and the attacker are from different nation, is a significant exception to this pattern. Understanding this phenomenon requires spanning diverse disciplines and multiple scales of investigation, from why and how individuals become radicalized, why and how organizations use this tactic or how groups of radicalized individuals operate, and how this trend departs from or follows other global patterns in terrorism. Past work on terrorism has traditionally focused on micro- or mesa-levels of analysis leaning heavily on game theoretic or cultural models of individual and/or organizational decision-making, and on using social network theory to understand how personal or cultural factors influence individuals. A more recent thread of research draws heavily on ideas from physics and complex systems as it focuses on more macro-level patterns. Due in part to differences in the type of questions these approaches are best positioned to address, relatively little work has focused on bridging these scales. The objective of this working group is to connect micro-, meso-, and macro-level models and phenomena, by bringing together experts for different levels from diverse disciplines, including anthropologists, psychologists, political scientists, computer scientists, physicists, and mathematical biologists. This transdisciplinary and multi-level approach will enable the group to develop new models and conceptual frameworks, find relevant data sets, and design joint projects to address radicalization in Western democracies. The participants will explore the feasibility of establishing a research collaboration and writing a joint grant proposal. During the working group participants will investigate the possibilities for (i) enumerating and formalizing mechanisms relevant at each level of explanation (ii) developing a quantitative modeling framework linking the mechanisms at all three levels and (iii) finding or developing data sets that would be required by such a framework for its theoretical evaluation and practical use. Based on these discussions, they will aim to develop a joint project proposal to seek funding for further collaborative work. The project will certainly enable new research collaborations, and is also expected to produce a number of transdisciplinary publications.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 07, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710136
Entities
People
- Mirta Galesic
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Santa Fe Institute
- United States Army