Abstract / Summary:
The present research project wants to help develop new methods in conflict resolution and negotiation, in order to account for the fact that dynamics of confrontations between individuals and groups are often characterized by emotions such as fear. Oftentimes indeed, fear will paradoxically lead to aggressive or exclusionary behavior. Such emotional aspects are difficult to overcome. The project wants to try to lift some of these difficulties by looking at how emotional aspects of conflicts could be superseded by using appropriate resolution and negotiation strategies. The project also plans to use modeling tools drawing on both macro and agent based approaches, while emphasizing both rational and emotional aspects of conflicts.
In order to accomplish the tasks of which above, the project aims at filling some gaps in the existing research on conflict and cooperation by focusing with more attention on: a) the interdisciplinary aspects of the research, and particularly the important inputs that behavioral neuron-science research can bring along in order to better understand the issues at stake, and b) emphasizing the dynamic aspects of escalatory conflict and cooperative processes. Therefore, it is proposed that the project will work within a framework of comparative quantitatively treated case studies. In order to represent such cases, computational agent based models will be developed to formalize the main decision processes occurring in each instance. The research strategy to reach such a goal consists in first developing a generic model, which will then be applied to each specific case by means of data gathering and historical analysis. This step requires the establishment of databases on the historical evolution of the conflict cases, as well as the calibration of the generic model to each one of them. Finally, the elaboration of such models should give the possibility to simulate them and conduct sensitivity analyses to determine: a) the relevant parameters and variables that can explain conflict dynamics, and b) the strategies that can be followed in order to suggest conflict resolution and cooperation enhancing procedures. In its important phases, the project should be followed and assessed by an advisory committee of practitioners to evaluate the plausibility of the data and representations and the practical value of the policy recommendations.
To achieve its proposed results the project puts together an interdisciplinary team of two political scientists, one neuro-science researcher, and one economist who will combine their skills to give relevant answers to the research questions of which above. All the investigators involved have reached a high degree of experience in their respective research areas and are able to draw on considerable networks of competence to facilitate the research. One of them (Chichilnisky) is currently involved in several research efforts that will be useful for the accomplishment of the present project.
