International security after the cold war: Utilization of the network technique to prioritize world threats

Abstract

The past century witnessed major events of historical magnitude. In the first fifty years of the 20th century, the world suffered two World Wars and several regional conflicts that were very costly in lives and property. A promising future based on information technology and the computer science era provided man with unlimited hope for a healthier future, better job opportunities, medical treatments of serious diseases and much-improved standards of living. The 1990s will be remembered as the years of the death of an old system and the birth of a new one. Those years marked the transition from a world governed by the Cold War issues to new and unclear security arrangements and challenges. The main objectives of this paper are to describe the threats and dangers that would shape the future of the world, to identify the main factors that will bring change to the international order and to utilize engineering tools and techniques in an attempt to study their relative relationship and ranking with respect to each other