Multiplex Communities and the Emergence of International Conflict

Advances in community detection reveal new insights into multiplex and multilayer networks. Less work, however, investigates the relationship between these communities and outcomes in social systems. We leverage these advances to shed light on the relationship between the cooperative mesostructure of the international system and the onset of interstate conflict. We detect communities based upon weaker signals of affinity expressed in United Nations votes and speeches, as well as stronger signals observed across multiple layers of bilateral cooperation. Communities of diplomatic affinity display an expected negative relationship with conflict onset. Ties in communities based upon observed cooperation, however, display no effect under a standard model specification and a positive relationship with conflict under an alternative specification. These results align with some extant hypotheses but also point to a paucity in our understanding of the relationship between community structure and behavioral outcomes in networks.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1802.0039

Il meticciato nell'Italia contemporanea. Storia, memorie e cultura di massa.

L'idea diffusa degli "italiani brava gente" e della diversit\ue0 della nostra storia rispetto alla storia USA, segnata da razzismo istituzionale, si fonda sul silenziamento del passato coloniale e razzista italiano. Il ripudio della categoria di razza da parte dell'Italia repubblicana e la smentita scientifica dell'esistenza biologica della categoria non hanno cancellato la presenza della razza, formazione storico-culturale che paradossalmente esiste e non esiste. Priva di referenti oggettivi nella realt\ue0, la razza produce in essa effetti significativi, opera sia come categoria sociale e strumento di esclusione, sia come costruzione simbolica e istanza identitaria. A fronte del silenziamento del meticciato storico nell'uso pubblico della storia e nella memoria nazionali del secondo dopoguerra, il saggio sottolinea la presenza diffusa del meticciato nei prodotti della cultura di massa italiani contemporanei e ne indaga i significati con gli strumenti degli studi critici sulla razza e in prospettiva comparata tra Italia e Stati Uniti

Supplementary materials for Caleb Pomeroy, "Correspondence: Measuring Power in International Relations," International Security, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 197–200, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_c_00355.

Supplementary materials for Caleb Pomeroy, "Correspondence: Measuring Power in International Relations," International Security, Vol. 44, No. 1 (Summer 2019), pp. 197–200, doi.org/10.1162/ISEC_c_00355. The materials include: (1) R code for replication of the letter's AIC reanalysis and reestimation of relevant models, (2) a readable version of Table 3 from the Appendix of Michael Beckley's "The Power of Nations," (3) replication data in tabular format for the relevant studies, and (4) a README file

Replication Data for: The quantitative analysis of space policy: A review of current methods and future directions

Abstract. Decades of space policy research have yielded an eclectic, multidisciplinary research agenda replete with findings that are relevant for theory and policy. Absent from the literature, however, is a systematic review and discussion of the data and research methods used to ascertain these findings. This is important for research progress, because data and method choice have implications for the validity of the findings, potential contributions to theory, and efficacy of suggested policy prescriptions. Motivated by advances in computational social science, this article reviews the quantitative space policy literature and finds scope for further development with respect to data sources, method selection, and substantive topics of inquiry. Given these findings, two methodological areas are introduced, namely text and network analysis, and their utility is illustrated through an extension of a previous public opinion study, as well as a novel application regarding state support for international space law. This review might be relevant to scholars and practitioners interested in the empirical study of space policy

spaceTexts: A Corpus of Speeches in the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

State and nonstate actors gather annually at the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) to debate, deliberate, and exchange information regarding the use and exploration of outer space. Established as an ad hoc committee in the wake of the 1957 launch of Sputnik I, today COPUOS is one of the largest committees in the UN and serves as the preeminent diplomatic venue for the discussion of legal, political, and technical issues arising from the international community's use of space. Previously only fully available in physical archives, this project digitizes and makes available speeches from the General Debate/General Exchange of Views section. The individual statements are stored in plain text files with associated metadata to assist in natural language processing. The original transcripts are also available for download, and more details can be found in the README file.</p

Replication Data for: Multiplex communities and the emergence of international conflict

Abstract. Advances in community detection reveal new insights into multiplex and multilayer networks. Less work, however, investigates the relationship between these communities and outcomes in social systems. We leverage these advances to shed light on the relationship between the cooperative mesostructure of the international system and the onset of interstate conflict. We detect communities based upon weaker signals of affinity expressed in United Nations votes and speeches, as well as stronger signals observed across multiple layers of bilateral cooperation. Communities of diplomatic affinity display an expected negative relationship with conflict onset. Ties in communities based upon observed cooperation, however, display no effect under a standard model specification and a positive relationship with conflict under an alternative specification. These results align with some extant hypotheses but also point to a paucity in our understanding of the relationship between community structure and behavioral outcomes in networks

Multiplex communities and the emergence of international conflict

Advances in community detection reveal new insights into multiplex and multilayer networks. Less work, however, investigates the relationship between these communities and outcomes in social systems. We leverage these advances to shed light on the relationship between the cooperative mesostructure of the international system and the onset of interstate conflict. We detect communities based upon weaker signals of affinity expressed in United Nations votes and speeches, as well as stronger signals observed across multiple layers of bilateral cooperation. Communities of diplomatic affinity display an expected negative relationship with conflict onset. Ties in communities based upon observed cooperation, however, display no effect under a standard model specification and a positive relationship with conflict under an alternative specification. These results align with some extant hypotheses but also point to a paucity in our understanding of the relationship between community structure and behavioral outcomes in networks