Until the Bitter End? The Diffusion of Surrender Across Battles, 2019
Why do armies sometimes surrender to the enemy and sometimes fight to the bitter end? Existing re... more Why do armies sometimes surrender to the enemy and sometimes fight to the bitter end? Existing research has highlighted the importance of battlefield resolve for the onset, conduct, and outcome of war, but has left these life-and-death decisions mostly unexplained. We know little about why battle-level surrender occurs, and why it stops. In this paper, we argue that surrender emerges from a collective-action problem: success in battle requires that soldiers choose to fight as a unit rather than flee, but individual decisions to fight depend on whether soldiers expect their comrades to do the same. Surrender becomes contagious across battles because soldiers take cues from what other soldiers did when they were in a similar position. Where no recent precedent exists, mass surrender is unlikely. We find empirical support for this claim using a new data set of conventional battles in all interstate wars from 1939 to 2011. These findings advance our understanding of battlefield resolve, with broader implications for the design of political-military institutions and decisions to initiate, continue, and terminate war.
The dynamics of radicalization: a relational and comparative perspective/Organized violence after civil war: the geography of recruitment in Latin America/Networks of rebellion: explaining insurgent cohesion and collapse, 2018
Assessing citation networks for dissemination and implementation research frameworks, 2017
Background: A recent review of frameworks used in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science ... more Background: A recent review of frameworks used in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science described 61 judged to be related either to dissemination, implementation, or both. The current use of these frameworks and their contributions to D&I science more broadly has yet to be reviewed. For these reasons, our objective was to determine the role of these frameworks in the development of D&I science.
One of the most significant challenges to using a constructivist approach in international relati... more One of the most significant challenges to using a constructivist approach in international relations has been the lack of methodological tools available to empirically assess the theoretical implications of the paradigm. This paper seeks to address this challenge by modeling the constructivist view of the world in order to propose a tool that offers the possibility for better analysis of agent--structure processes and theoretical implications for change in the international system. The dynamic model of networks and behavior constructed here allows for the analysis of strategic network formation and regime growth as it pertains to institutional development between states. The model is then used to analyze the co--evolution of an institutional network and states' behavior via endogenous processes of social selection and social influence in international interactions, which subsequently provide insights into both international regime growth as well as the general dynamics between agent and structure. Finally, the model's insights are applied to the emerging cyber security regime in order to make meaningful predictions about how the emerging regime's structure is likely to evolve. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Terry Clark, for his professional guidance and mentorship as my thesis developed from the early stages of initial, vague ideas well over a year ago to what is now a complete and, hopefully, coherent accomplishment. He has sharpened my understanding of theoretical and analytical issues, and his willingness to critique, question, and challenge my understanding of the issues presented in this thesis have been invaluable to the resulting product. Thanks also to James Rolfsen for agreeing to help program the code for the model. He may not have realized what he was getting himself into when he first agreed to work with me, but he met every challenge I presented to him and created an incredibly useful program that I was able to use for my analysis. Without his skills, the analysis and results section of the thesis would be far less interesting and meaningful. This thesis has made for early mornings, late nights, and many weekends spent reading, writing, thinking, running simulations and analyzing results. Special thanks go to my mom and dad for making the drive to visit on multiple occasions, often on short notice, to help out around the house and provide free babysitting service. Thanks also to Mila for her love, even if she didn't understand why Daddy had to spend so much time on the computer. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank my wife, Brooke, for her unceasing love and patience as I completed this massive task. She has been more than tolerant of my near obsession with this project and I am forever grateful to her for her incredible support. v
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