Models and Methods Commons^™

The Commons Of The Mind: Modeling Repeat-Player Behavior In Intellectual Property Infringement Disputes, Eliot Bridges Warner

University Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the applicability of Marc Galanter's 1974 model of repeat-player (RP) and one-shotter (OS) civil litigation to the domain of intellectual property (IP) infringement disputes. While Galanter's framework predicts that repeat players will enjoy structural advantages over one-shotters, this paper argues that IP deviates from that model in consequential ways. Unique features of IP infringement litigation, including the duty to enforce, the risk of invalidation at trial, the inverse relationship between firm size and infringement stakes, and compounding advantages accruing to large firms, produce a hierarchy of strategic advantage that is more steeply resource-dependent than Galanter anticipates.

Drawing …

A Plague On Both Your Houses: Archetypes Of Political Choice, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

In times of political polarization, we are well-advised to heed Spinoza’s injunction, “Not to lament, not to curse, but to understand.” Understanding can be facilitated by ideas about the archetypal structures of political choice. This paper offers a systems theoretic analysis of a set of such archetypes focusing solely on their structures and not advocating any specific political positions. The primary question that must be answered is whether available or desirable political choices are dyadic or triadic, and if dyadic, whether the two alternatives of the dyad should be viewed as good versus bad or as complementary.  Various modes of …

The Cult Fascist: Establishing Cultic Behavior In Proud Boys And Incels, Aj Ashland

University Honors Theses

Is the Alt-Right a cult? Certainly, we can see religious fervor intertwine with politics as we see in the far-right, with artwork of Trump being crucified like Jesus, pierced in his side by Nancy Pelosi analogous to Longinus (Cole, 2020), or in the golden statue of Trump at CPAC (Beauchamp, 2021). But, do we see similar, potentially cultic, behavior within Alt-Right groups? It turns out we do see this behavior. Within this study, I determine via the Advanced Bonewits' Cult Danger Evaluation Frame what level of cultic behavior exists within Incels and Proud Boys. In doing so, I intend to …

Human Development Dynamics: An Agent Based Simulation Of Macro Social Systems And Individual Heterogeneous Evolutionary Games, Mark Abdollahian, Zining Yang, Travis Coan, Birol Yesilada

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: In the context of modernization and development, a complex adaptive systems framework can help address the coupling of macro social constraint and opportunity with individual agency. Combining system dynamics and agent based modeling, we formalize a simulation approach of the Human Development (HD) perspective to explore the interactive effects of economics, culture, society and politics across multiple human scales.

Methods: Based on a system of asymmetric, coupled nonlinear equations, we first capture the core qualitative logic of HD theory, empirically validated from World Values Survey (WVS) data. Using a simple evolutionary game approach, second we fuse endogenously derived individual …

Power Transition Theory And The Global Arms Trade: Exploring Constructs From Social Network Analysis, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Structural dimensions of the international system are key elements in power transition theory. Most theoretical applications to date have examined the distribution of power, and fluctuations in that distribution, as a precursor to global and regional warfare. Somewhat less attention has been paid to the coalitional structure of the international system in applied research. In this paper I suggest that certain concepts from power transition theory, including those that rely on information about alliance membership, might also be operationalized by examining the global arms trade using tools developed for social network analysis (SNA). I focus in particular on the SNA …

The Illicit Arms Trade: A Social Network Analysis, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Small arms are difficult to track and are not the stuff of military parades, but they are immensely destructive. In addition to what is already circulating, a substantial percentage of what is newly produced enters the black market and is destined for conflict zones across the globe. I argue that the illicit trade in small arms shares some important properties with networked forms of organization studied by sociologists. I then employ quantitative methods developed for the study of social networks in an …

The Black Market In Small Arms: Examining A Social Network, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to the proliferation of small arms, a transnational trade amounting to over $7 billion in value during 2002. Small arms are difficult to track and are not the stuff of military parades, but they are immensely destructive. As much as $1 billion worth enters the black market annually. I argue that the illicit trade in small arms should be understood not as a market but as a network, one that shares some important properties with networked forms of organization studied by sociologists. I then employ quantitative methods developed for the study …

Mapping The Small Arms Trade: Insights From Social Network Analysis, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to the proliferation of small arms, a transnational trade amounting to over $7 billion in value during 2002. Small arms are difficult to track and are not the stuff of military parades, but they are immensely destructive. The trade in small arms should be understood not as a market but as a network, one that shares some important properties with networked forms of organization studied by sociologists. I make this argument and then employ quantitative methods developed for the study of social networks in an effort to show the basic structure …

Changing Structure Of The Arms Trade: A Social Network Analysis, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The global arms trade should be understood not as a market but as a network, one that shares some important properties with networked forms of organization studied by sociologists. I make this argument and then employ quantitative methods developed for social network analysis in an effort to describe the evolving structure of the arms trade network since the end of World War II. That structure has changed significantly over the past fifty years. It became less dense in the early years of the cold war as newly independent states joined the society of states, but had yet to develop many …

Conflict Emergence And Escalation In Interactive International Dyads, David Todd Kinsella, Bruce M. Russett

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We examine whether the conditions affecting initial expressions of hostility are similar to those affecting militarized disputes. Analyzing dyadic interactions during the years 1951–1992, we estimate a model to take into account selection effects and check it against another allowing conjunctive causation. Both provide close approximations to theoretical models of the conflict process and yield similar results. We confirm Kant’s belief that all states are subject to the realist conditions of interstate competition that makes disputes likely, but that liberal influences, if present, can constrain the escalation of such disputes to war. Several influences on the conflict process have nonmonotonic …

A Regional Approach: City-County Consolidation As A Method Of Local Governmental Reorganization, Anthony Gene White

Dissertations and Theses

City-county consolidated governments are examined to isolate factors important to the success of the consolidation process, and are measured against objective and subjective criteria for the operation of such governments. Data are obtained through survey techniques and statistical analysis of demographic information. Results indicate that such success-oriented consolidation factors inherent in city-county governments do exist and can be interrelated in a mathematical model. Consolidated governments appear to improve their ability to handle urban problems, and officials of consolidated governments are more confident of their ability to handle these problems than are officials of other metropolitan governments reorganized in different manners.