WHAT IS IT?
The model provides an abstract representation of the international system focused on information diffusion, economic inequality, and international conflicts. The model, hereafter called IDEIIC, was designed to explore questions about war outbreaks in the international system. Under what conditions do the interactions of people, information diffusion, and economic inequality lead to the outbreaks of international conflicts, and under what conditions mutual democratic pacifism emerges between governments.
Overall, the IDEIIC model was designed and implemented, where possible, following Railsback and Grimm’s modeling cycle and ODD protocol. The model was first conceived to answer the general question: what are the sets of microspecifications among a population sufficient to generate international conflicts? Then, due to the experimental nature of ABM, the model has been enriched with additional research questions during the implementation of the code. These ancillary questions include: what is a state, what is information, how does information spreads among citizens and states, do markets create economic inequality, how does inequality affects the production of information, how do inequality and information production affect political unrest, why do governments decide to attack a foreign state, etc.
HOW IT WORKS
Starting with the environment, the model has a territory divided into 14641 spatial units called patches. Inside the environment are located 21 different states, each with a defined territory, government, and population. The model has two breeds of agents; one called citizens and one called governments. The state does not have a specific breed (it is a meta-agent and not an agent), but it is represented by the aggregation of government, citizens, and patches.
The overview and scheduling of the model has been described in depth in my Master’s thesis. Please, write me at cesare[at]scartozzi.eu to request a copy of the thesis.
HOW TO USE IT
The observer can:
• Select the number of democracies vis-à-vis autocracies.
• Activate or deactivate the information network.
• Select the percentage of citizens involved in the information network.
• Select how often agents connects to the network to talk to other agents.
• Set the initial number of values (colors) per state.
• Select border mobility (in the code section).
• Select whether citizens move with an equal speed or if they move according to their income and regime.
• Select whether states have an equal populations or not.
• Select how many states have exploitive or pro-welfare economic policies.
THINGS TO NOTICE
The data generated by the model appeared to support the assumption that international mobility, network participation and the spread of values have a positive effect in reducing international conflicts. Further experimental investigations on the model are needed to estimate the effects of economic policies on the outbreaks of conflicts.
EXTENDING THE MODEL
The IDEIIC model has been written to serve as a base for future modeling, and with minor adjustments it could be used to study a wide array of international phenomena, including migration, socialization and participation in international institutions, arms race, environmental security, and diseases diffusion.
RELATED MODELS & REFERENCES
Burns, William J., Slovic, Paul. “The Diffusion of Fear: Modeling Community Response to a Terrorist Strike.” JDMS: The Journal of Defense Modeling and Simulation: Applications, Methodology, Technology 4 (2007): 298–317.
Epstein, Joshua M. Agent_Zero. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.
Epstein, Joshua M. “Modeling Civil Violence: An Agent-Based Computational Approach.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 99, no. 3 (2002): 7243–50.
Wilensky, Uri. “NetLogo GenDrift T Interact Model.” Evanston, IL: Northwestern University, 1997. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/GenDriftTinteract.
Wilensky, Uri, and William Rand. An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling: Modeling Natural, Social, and Engineered Complex Systems with NetLogo. London: The MIT Press, 2015.
Wilensky, Uri, and Mitchel Resnick. “Thinking in Levels: A Dynamic Systems Approach to Making Sense of the World.” Journal of Science Education and Technology 8, no. 1 (1999): 3–19.
For the full bibliography see Scartozzi, Cesare M. “The Emergence of Order: Complex Systems Theory and International Relations.” MA thesis, Yonsei University, Graduate School of International Studies, 2016.
HOW TO CITE
If you mention this model or the NetLogo software in a publication, we ask that you include the citations below.
For the model itself:
Scartozzi, Cesare M. (2016). IDEIIC model. Seoul: Yonsei University. http://c.scartozzi.eu/
For the publication that includes the model:
Scartozzi, Cesare M. “The Emergence of Order: Complex Systems Theory and International Relations.” MA thesis, Yonsei University, Graduate School of International Studies, 2016.
Please cite the NetLogo software as:
Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (International License). To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Commercial licenses are also available. To inquire about commercial licenses, please contact me at: cesare[at]scartozzi.eu .