Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Network Theory and Violent Conflicts

Abstract

The Introduction provides the outline and scope of the book. Conventional analysis of international relations tends to rely on linear, causal and absolute frameworks to explain past and present violent conflicts such as the Lebanese Civil War or contemporary Afghanistan. Recent developments in network theory can be applied to these scenarios and offer a new approach and insights that embrace the complexity of the situations. Not only do they present more compelling explanations for conflicts to turn violent and the role violence plays in social networks, but they also offer a new perspective on peacebuilding.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Properties of the whole that cannot be deduced from the constituents.

Bibliography

  • Arendt, H. (1969). Reflections on violence. Journal of International Affairs, 23(1), 1–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arendt, H. (1970). On violence. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azani, E. (2009). Hezbollah: The story of the party of god. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barfield, T. (2011). Afghanistan’s ethnic puzzle. Foreign Affairs, 5(90), 54–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (2007). Liquid times. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berg Harpviken, K. (2009). Social networks and migration in wartime Afghanistan. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Blok, A. (2001). Honour and violence. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolotin, Y., Tur, A., & Yanovsky, V. (2013). Chaos: Concept, control and constructive use. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bousquet, A. (2009). The scientific way of warfare. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bousquet, A. (2012). Complexity theory and the war on terror: Understanding the self-organising dynamics of leaderless Jihad. Journal of International Relations and Development, 15(3), 345–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bull, H. (1977). The anachical society: A study of order in world politics. NewYork: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, D. (2001). Complexity theory and the social sciences. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, T. G. (2013). Tangled web: The Syrian civil war and its implications. Mediterranean Quarterly, 24(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2001). The internet galaxy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2006). The network society: From knowledge to policy. In M. Castells & G. Cardoso (Eds.), The Network Society. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins Centre for Transatlantic Relations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2009). Communication power. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (2010). The rise of the network society. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cebrowski, A., & Garstka, J. (1998). Network-centric warfare: Its origins and future. Proceedings of the Naval Institute, 124(1), 28–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chouvy, P.-A. (2015). The myth of the narco-state. Space and Polity. doi:10.1080/13562576.2015.1052348.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, C. (2013). The sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914. New York: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coker, C. (2008). Ethics and war in the 21st century. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Coker, C. (2010). Barbarous philosophers. London: Hurst & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordesman, A. H. (2013). The Afghan war in 2013. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLanda, M. (2006). A new philosophy of society. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deleuze, G., Guattari, F., & Massumi, B. (2011). A thousand plateaus. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, J. (1996). Violence. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsberg, B. (2013). The value of violence. Amherst: Prometheus Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleick, J. (1998). Chaos. London: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halliday, F. (2002). In retrospect. The World Today, 58(8/9).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedges, C. (2003). War is a force that gives us meaning. New York: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbes, T. (1960). Leviathan: Or, the matter, forme and power of a commonwealth, ecclesiasticall and civil. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, J. H. (1992). Adaptation in natural and artificial systems. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardushin, C. (2012). Understanding social networks. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kautz, R. (2001). Chaos—The science of predictable random notion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalaf, S. (2002). Civil and uncivil violence in Lebanon. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kilcullen, D. (2009). The accidental Guerilla. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knudsen, A. J., & Kerr, M. (2012). Lebanon: After the cedar revolution. London: Hurst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kochen, M. (Ed.). (1989). The small world. Norwood: Ablex.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kremmer, C. (2002). The carpet wars. New York: HarperCollins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant. Carlton North: Scribe Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (2008). The political mind. New York: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy, J. S., & Thompson, W. R. (2010). Causes of war (p. 10). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Libschutz, R. D. (1995). On security. In R. D. Lipschutz (Ed.), On security. NewYork: Columbia Univeristy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonsdale, D. J. (2004). The nature of war in the information age. New York: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallea, P. (2014). The war on drugs: A failed experiment. Toronto: Dundurn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milgram, S. (1967). The small-world problem. Psychology Today, 1(1), 62–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Misdag, N. (2006). Afghanistan—Political frailty and external interference. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitleton-Kelly, E. (2000). Complexity: Partial support for PBR. In P. Henderson (Ed.), Systems engineering for business process change. London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Najem, T. (2012). Lebanon: The politics of a penetrated society. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, E., & Richmond, O. (2006a). Challenges to peacebuilding: Managing spoilers during conflict resolution. Tokyo: United Nations University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, E., & Richmond, O. (2006b). Peace building and spoilers. Conflict, Security & Development, 6(1), 101–110. doi:10.1080/14678800600590728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nissenbaum, Dion. (2011, 18 October). Afghan probe sheds light on assassination—Recordings show a sophisticated plot to kill the president’s top peace envoy. Wall Street Journal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak, M. A., & May, R. M. (1992). Evolutionary games and spatial chaos. Nature, 359, 826–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pool, I. d. S., & Kochen, M. (1978). Contacts and Influence. Social Networks, 1(1), 5–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (2006). Identity and violence. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaery-Eisenlohr, R. (2008). Shi’ite Lebanon. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaikh, F. (2009). Making sense of Pakistan. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherif, M. (1956). Experiments in Group Conflict. Scientific American, 196, 54–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shils, E. A., & Finch, H. A. (Eds.). (2011). The methodology of the social sciences. London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiessen, C. (2014). Local ownership of peacebuilding in Afghanistan: Shouldering responsibility for sustainable peace and development. Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Traboulsi, F. (2007). A history of modern Lebanon. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR. (2015). 2015 UNHCR country operations profile. Retrieved 18 May 2015, from http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486676.html

  • Urry, J. (2003). Global complexity. Cambridge: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verbrugge, L. M. (1977). The structure of adult friendship choices. Social Forces, 56, 576–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Clausewitz, C. (2007). On war. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldrop, M. M. (1992). Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of order and chaos. London: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waltz, K. N. (1959). Man: The state, and war. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Winfree, A. T. (1980). The geometry of biological time. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yacoubian, M. (2009). Lebanon’s unstable equilibrium. Washington, DC: Proceedings from the United States Institute of Peace.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Christian R. Kramer

Authors
  1. Christian R. Kramer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kramer, C.R. (2017). Introduction. In: Network Theory and Violent Conflicts. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41393-8_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation