Emergent Actors in World Politics: How States and Nations Develop and Dissolve

Description

The disappearance and formation of states and nations after the end of the Cold War have proved puzzling to both theorists and policy-makers. Cedarman argues that this lack of conceptual preparation stems from two tendencies in conventional theorizing: firstly, the dominant focus on cohesive nation-states as the only actors of world politics obscures crucial differences between the state and the nation; secondly, traditional theory usually treats these units as fixed. This book presents complex adaptive systems modelling as a way of analyzing world politics. It provides a series of models, computerized thought-experiments, that separate the state from the nation and incorporate these as emergent rather than preconceived actors.

Lars-Erik Cederman is University Lecturer in International Relations at Somerville College, University of Oxford. He has written for such publications as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, and European Journal of International Relations.

"Cederman presents an exhaustively researched, precisely orchestrated study using complex adaptive system computer modelling in an attempt to simulate emergent political actors and nationalism. It is an outstanding work, and Lars-Erik Cederman has earned a place on the bookshelf of every serious IR student."--International Relation