Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T01:19:08.003Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diplomatic Relations in a Virtual World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2021

Aaron Bramson Open the ORCID record for Aaron Bramson [Opens in a new window] ,
Kevin Hoefman ,
Koen Schoors  and
Jan Ryckebusch
Aaron Bramson*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Symbolic Cognitive Development, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 6-7-3 Minatojima-Minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan Department of General Economics, Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Kevin Hoefman
Affiliation:
Department of General Economics, Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium Howest University College West Flanders, Marksesteenweg 58, 8500 Kortrijk, Belgium
Koen Schoors
Affiliation:
Department of General Economics, Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Jan Ryckebusch
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, Proeftuinstraat 86, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
*
Corresponding author Aaron Bramson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We apply variations and extensions of structural balance theory to analyze the dynamics of geopolitical relations using data from the virtual world Eve Online. The highly detailed data enable us to study the interplay of alliance size, power, and geographic proximity on the prevalence and conditional behavior of triads built from empirical political alliances. Through our analysis, we reveal the degree to which the behaviors of players conform to the predictions of structural balance theory and whether our augmentations of the theory improve these predictions. In addition to studying the time series of the proportions of triad types, we investigate the conditional changes in triad types and the formation of polarized political coalitions. We find that player behavior largely conforms to the predictions of a multipolar version of structural balance theory that separates strong and weak configurations of balanced and frustrated triads. The high degree of explanatory power of structural balance theory in this context provides strong support for both the theory and the use of virtual worlds in social science research.

Keywords

diplomatic relationsbalance theorycoalition formationvirtual worlds
Type
Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 214 - 235
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Political Methodology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Edited by Jeff Gill

References

Abell, P. 1968. “Structural Balance in Dynamic Structures.” Sociology 2(3):333–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amelio, A., and Pizzuti, C.. 2013. “Community Mining in Signed Networks: A Multiobjective Approach.” In Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining, 95–99. New York: ACM.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anchuri, P., and Magdon-Ismail, M.. 2012. “Communities and Balance in Signed Networks: A Spectral Approach.” In 2012 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM), 235–242. Washington, DC: IEEE.Google Scholar
Antal, T., Krapivsky, P. L., and Redner, S.. 2006. “Social Balance on Networks: The Dynamics of Friendship and Enmity.” Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 224(1):130–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axelrod, R., and Bennett, D. S.. 1993. “Landscape Theory of Aggregation.” British Journal of Political Science 23(2):211–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BBCNews. 2014. “Eve Online Virtual War ‘Costs $300,000’ in Damage,” January 29. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-25944837.Google Scholar
Belaza, A. M., Hoefman, K., Ryckebusch, J., Bramson, A., van den Heuvel, M., and Schoors, K.. 2017. “Statistical Physics of Balance Theory.” PLoS One 12(8):12–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belaza, A. M. et al. 2019. “Social Stability and Extended Social Balance—Quantifying the Role of Inactive Links in Social Networks.” Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications 518:270–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bramson, A., Hoefman, K., Schoors, K., and Ryckebusch, J.. 2020. “Replication Data for: Diplomatic Relations in a Virtual World.” doi: 10.7910/DVN/S8M39Y, Harvard Dataverse, V1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bramson, A., Hoefman, K., van den Heuvel, M., Vandermarliere, B., and Schoors, K.. 2017. “Measuring Propagation with Temporal Webs.” In Temporal Network Epidemiology, 57–104. Springer: Singapore.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bramson, A. et al. 2016. “Disambiguation of Social Polarization Concepts and Measures.” The Journal of Mathematical Sociology 40(2):80–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bramson, A. et al. 2017. “Understanding Polarization: Meanings, Measures, and Model Evaluation.” Philosophy of Science 84(1):115–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cartwright, D., and Harary, F.. 1956. “Structural Balance: A Generalization of Heider’s Theory.” Psychological Review 63(5):277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
CCP. 2019. “Eve Online.” http://www.eveonline.com.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Wang, X., Yuan, B., and Tang, B.. 2014. “Overlapping Community Detection in Networks with Positive and Negative Links.” Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment 2014(3):P03021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuggi, and Sky, M.. 2017. “Eve Null-Sec Coalition Influence Maps,” July 11. http://eve-files.com/.Google Scholar
CorrelatesOfWar. 2019. “The Correlates of War Project.” http://correlatesofwar.org.Google Scholar
Cranmer, S. J., and Desmarais, B. A.. 2016. “A Critique of Dyadic Design.” International Studies Quarterly 60(2):355–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, J. A. 1967. “Clustering and Structural Balance in Graphs.” Human Relations 20:181–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doreian, P., and Mrvar, A.. 2009. “Partitioning Signed Social Networks.” Social Networks 31(1):1–11. doi:10.1016/j.socnet.2008.08.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DuBois, T., Golbeck, J., and Srinivasan, A.. 2011. “Predicting Trust and Distrust in Social Networks.” In 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust (PASSAT) and 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Social Computing (SocialCom), 418–424. Boston, MA: IEEE.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economist, T. 2015. “Friends and Foes: Rifts in the Middle East.” http://espresso.economist.com/f59633e6085d53d7aea1c1bf83570f79.Google Scholar
Esmailian, P., and Jalili, M.. 2015. “Community Detection in Signed Networks: The Role of Negative Ties in Different Scales.” Scientific Reports 5:14339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Esteban, J., and Ray, D.. 2008. “Polarization, Fractionalization and Conflict.” Journal of Peace Research 45(2):163–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteban, J.-M., and Ray, D.. 1994. “On the Measurement of Polarization.” Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society: 819–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EVE-history.net. 2011. “BRUCE—EVE History, March.” Accessed June 26, 2017. http://eve-history.net/wiki/index.php/BRUCE.Google Scholar
Eve-Offline. 2018. “Eve-Online Status Monitor,” January. http://eve-offline.net/?server=tranquility.Google Scholar
EveWho. 2017. “Eve Who,” June 23. http://evewho.com/alli/.Google Scholar
Facchetti, G., Iacono, G., and Altafini, C.. 2011. “Computing Global Structural Balance in Large-Scale Signed Social Networks.” PNAS 108(52):20953–20958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibler, D. M., and Braithwaite, A.. 2013. “Dangerous Neighbours, Regional Territorial Conflict and the Democratic Peace.” British Journal of Political Science 43(4):877–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goh, A. 2018. “How to Build a Robust Game Economy,” September 3. http://hackernoon.com/how-to-build-arobust-game-economy-lessons-from-one-of-the-worlds-longest-running-mmos-426f8fd94f6d.Google Scholar
Harary, F. 1959. “On the Measurement of Structural Balance.” Behavioral Science 4(4):306–323.Google Scholar
Hart, J. 1974. “Symmetry and Polarization in the European International System, 1870–1879: A Methodological Study.” Journal of Peace Research 11(3):229–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heider, F. 1946. “Attitudes and Cognitive Organization.” Journal of Psychology 21:107–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoefman, K., Bramson, A., Schoors, K., and Ryckebusch, J.. 2019. “The Impact of Functional and Social Value on the Price of Goods.” PLoS One 13(11):e0207075.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummon, N. P., and Doreian, P.. 2003. “Some Dynamics of Social Balance Processes: Bringing Heider Back into Balance Theory.” Social Networks 25(1):17–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kulakowski, K. 2007. “Some Recent Attempts to Simulate the Heider Balance Problem.” Computing in Science & Engineering 9(4):80–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leskovec, J., Huttenlocher, D., and Kleinberg, J.. 2010. “Signed Networks and in Social and Media.” In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1361–1370. New York: ACM.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maoz, Z. 2006. “Network Polarization, Network Interdependence, and International Conflict, 1816–2002.” Journal of Peace Research 43(4):391–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maoz, Z., Terris, L. G., Kuperman, R. D., and Talmud, I.. 2007. “What is the Enemy of My Enemy? Causes and Consequences of Imbalanced International Relations, 1816–2001.” The Journal of Politics 69(1):100–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, H. B., and Rosecrance, R.. 1985. “Alliance and Structural Balance in the International System: A Reinterpretation.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 29(1):57–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mildenberger, C. 2013. Economics and Social Conflict: Evil Actions and Evil Social Institutions in Virtual Worlds. London: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neumayer, E., and Plümper, T.. 2010. “Spatial Effects in Dyadic Data.” International Organization 64(1):145–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, B. A., and Elkins, Z.. 2004. “The Globalization of Liberalization: Policy Diffusion in the International Political Economy.” American Political Science Review 98(1):171–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snijders, T. A. 2017. “Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models for Network Dynamics.” Annual Review of Statistics and Its Application 4(1):343–363. doi:10.1146/annurev-statistics-060116-054035.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snijders, T. A., Van de Bunt, G. G., and Steglich, C. E.. 2010. “Introduction to Stochastic Actor-Based Models for Network Dynamics.” Social Networks 32(1):44–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sommerer, T., and Tallberg, J.. 2019. “Diffusion Across International Organizations: Connectivity and Convergence.” International Organization 73(2):399–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, K. 2008. “Open-Ended Video Games: A Model for Developing Learning for the Interactive Age.” In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, 167–198. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Szell, M., Lambiotte, R., and Thurner, S.. 2010. “Multirelational Organization of Large-Scale Social Networks in an Online World.” PNAS 107(31):13636–13641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traag, V. A., and Bruggeman, J.. 2009. “Community Detection in Networks with Positive and Negative Links.” Physical Review E 80(3):036115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waltz, K. N. 1964. “The Stability of a Bipolar World.” Daedalus 93(3):881–909.Google Scholar
Waltz, K. N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.Google Scholar
Wolfram Research, I. 2019. “Mathematica.” Version 10.0. Champaign, IL, 2019. http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica.Google Scholar
Yang, B., Cheung, W., and Liu, J.. 2007. “Community Mining from Signed Social Networks.” IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering 19(10):1333–1348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Bramson et al. supplementary material

Bramson et al. supplementary material

Download Bramson et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 3.3 MB
Supplementary material: Link

Bramson et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/S8M39Y
Link