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E-book Computational Conflict Research

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Penilaian

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From small-scale, non-violent disputes to large-scale war between nations, conflictis a central element of social life and has captivated the collective consciousnessfor millennia. In the fifth century B.C., Greek philosopher Heraclitus famouslyargued that “war is the father and king of all” and that conflict and strife betweenopposites maintains the world (Graham,2019). Many centuries later, sociologistGeorg Simmel would, in a similar vein, state that a society without conflictis “not only impossible empirically, but it would also display no essential life-process and no stable structure.” Social life, he posited, always “requires somequantitative relation of harmony and disharmony, association and dissociation,liking and disliking, in order to attain to a definite formation” (Simmel,1904,p. 491). Many related assertions could be listed: From Marx’s depiction of all pasthistory as class struggle (Marx and Engels,2002) to Dahrendorf’s conflict theory,which put clashing interests between conflict groups at the heart of questions ofsocial stability and change (Ritzer and Stepnisky,2017), conflict is seen asthefundamental principle that shapes society and history: “Because there is conflict,there is historical change and development,” as Dahrendorf (1959, p. 208) put it.Between societies, too, conflict has long been recognized as an essential force. Inhistory and political philosophy, many of the classic works are centered on clashesand contentions: From Thucydides’History of the Peloponnesian Warand Caesar’sDe bello Gallicoto Machiavelli’sPrinceand Hobbes’sLeviathan, the issue ofviolent struggle for power between cities, states, and empires of all kinds has beenkey. From psychology to international relations, conflict is one of the central fieldsof inquiry, with classic work searching for the root causes of conflict at variouslevels of analysis, from individual human predispositions and behavior to the spreadof ideology and structural relations between states to the anarchic internationalsystem (Waltz,2001; Rapoport,1995). In short, it is hard to imagine human lifewithout conflict. Rather, conflict can be seen as a “chronic condition” (Rapoport,1995, p. xxi) we have to live under. Consequently, it is unsurprising that efforts tounderstand conflict have been abundant. The statement that “more has been writtenon conflict than on any other subject save two: love and God” (Luce and Raiffa,1989, as cited in Rapoport,1995, p. xxi) puts this impression into words.1While this centrality of conflict for the human condition may be justificationenough for the continued attempts of a range of scientific fields to better understandconflict in its manifold forms, another central motivation is, of course, the searchfor ways to control, reduce, or even prevent conflict. “Are there ways of decreasingthe incidence of war, or increasing the chances of peace? Can we have peace moreoften in the future than in the past?” asks, for instance, Waltz (2001,p.1). This desire to contribute to a saver, less conflictual world became most urgent in theface of total annihilation during the Cold War. As Rapoport (1995, p. xxii) put it,talking about nuclear war: “understand it we must, if we want a chance of escapingwhat it threatens.” An entire field, peace science, now aims at understandingthe conditions for conflict resolution. Improving our understanding of the causes,structures, mechanisms, spatio-temporal dynamics, and consequences of conflict isthus an important goal of social science research.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

303.69 AMO c

Penerbit

Switzerland : Springer Nature.,

Deskripsi Fisik

270 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9783030293338

Klasifikasi

303.69

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Conflict Resolution

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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