Research Summaries

Back Social Scientism and the Art of Model Development: A Review

Fiscal Year 2010
Division Provost
Department Global Public Policy Academic Group
Investigator(s) Guttieri, Karen R.
Sponsor Army TRADOC Analysis Center-Monterey (Army)
Summary Research on insurgency, now revitalized after a long period of neglect, is still in need of a working model of origins; practitioners and analysts are predominantly focused on situations that are already violent. Large number quantitative studies and country-level data fail to provide the granularity we need to understand social dynamics. A proactive posture for conflict management requires a conceptual shift, particularly regarding problem framing and analysis. Political and military decision makers, supported by researchers, must better understand social structures and processes that are commonly hidden from view-how societies interpret change. Internal conflicts, including insurgency, are pernicious, contagious, prevalent, and expected to become more so as financial and environmental crises displace and deprive populations. A massive investment to develop Human Socio-Cultural Behavioral (HSCB) models is under way. Drawing upon multiple social disciplines, I propose to identify the social science behind the modeling in a literature review and paper supporting TRAC-Monterey. This review discusses problem framing, decision analytics, evolutionary theories and phenomenological approaches as some of the components of current research trends with potential to advance the state of the modeling art.
Keywords Models Insurgency Human Social Culture Behavior
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal