ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of major approaches and directions to the study of conflict primarily by international relations scholars in recent years. The study of conflict processes returned to a group of trends that first emerged in the 1940s and 1950s, which relied on the multidisciplinary study of conflict. The chapter discusses why simulation may be a useful way to deal with the complexity of studying conflict processes and indicate a number of implications from the findings generated by the particular simulation. Dynamic models are very useful for identifying political dynamics and strategic interactions that are not easily captured as variables in regression models. One useful method for examining complex dynamic models is computer simulation. The simulation allows examining how different contexts and different strategies affect the outcome of the two-level security problem. The chapter investigates issues including hegemonic decline, democracy, and state failure.
