Rethinking the International System as a Complex Adaptive System
es , including the modeling of aggregate social behavior to the development of artificial intelligence . Among the most recent scholarship focused on the study of CASs are also worth mentioning Nino Boccara ( 2004 ), Claudius Gros ( 2011 ), and Allen B . Downey ( 2012 ), who have published very informative books focused on modeling techniques from mathematical and computational perspectives . These books , together with Uri Wilensky and William Rand ’ s ( 2015 ) An Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling , provide a comprehensive overview and a good groundwork for any research project that tries to study the international system using complex systems theory .
Only a handful of scholars have advocated for the use of complexity theory as an overarching theoretical framework of IR , and fewer among them have used its modeling techniques to study the international system . Those who did , however , have succeeded in tackling fundamental issues of international affairs , such as the creation of international regimes , cooperative behavior and the emergence of nation-states ( e . g . Axelrod , 1997 ; Cederman , 1997 ; Harrison , 2006a ). Yet , while their findings have been widely acclaimed , their theoretical frameworks and methodologies have never gone mainstream among IR scholars . As advocated in this section , it is time for IR scholars to go beyond analogies on complexity and realize that the international system is a complex adaptive system . Only then , under complexity theory ’ s epistemological warrant and methodologies , they will be able to study the international system for what it really is : a system that lacks centralized control and that is composed of a large number of adaptive agents interacting in a nonlinear fashion that gives rise to emergent behavior and principles of self-organization .
Concepts and Ideas for a New Methodological Approach to IR
Complexity science aims to develop cross-disciplinary insights into complex systems by using a methodology that is a combination of experimental , theoretical , and computer simulation ( Mitchell , 2015a ). Complex systems , which can be either complex adaptive systems ( CASs ) or complex physical systems ( CPS ), are studied in several different disciplines , including evolutionary biology , immunology , genetics , information science , dynamics , economics , and sociology .
To define a complex system , it is better to put aside the concept of complexity , and , as Holland ( 2013 , Chapter 1 ) and Boccara ( 2004 , p . 4 ) suggest , focus on the properties of the system . Complexity comes in many different forms and shapes , and different disciplines tend to have different definitions and measurements of complexity . 5 Nevertheless , most complex systems share the same properties of nonlinearity , emergent behavior , self-organization , and information processing . Hence , a complex system can be defined as a “ system composed of a large number of
5 As Seth Lloyd has catalogued , there are more than 40 different measures of complexity , among which : Shannon information , the degree of hierarchy , and schema length ( Lloyd , n . d .).
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