| Modelling the evolution and prevention of war has become an important topic, as evidenced by two recent NIMBioS investigative workshops on evolution and warfare and on evolutionary approaches to peace science. In keeping with this trend, the goal of this course is to introduce a suite of largely idealized mathematical models of war and other group or multi-party conflict among humans and other social animals, and to evaluate them critically, with a view to their further development and application to peace science |
| Course page: | ON CAMPUS: http://www.math.fsu.edu/~mesterto/MOW.html (this
page) OFF CAMPUS: http://www.math.fsu.edu.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/~mesterto/MOW.html (with your FSUID username and password) |
| Professor: | Mike Mesterton-Gibbons |
| Office: | 202B Love |
| Office hours: | Please check here |
| Phone: | (850 64) 42580 |
| Main website: | Professor M-G's Home Page Email: |
| Class meets: | in 106 LOV, Monday to Friday 12:30-13:50 |
| Texts: | There is no required text. However, PDFs
of relevant papers will be posted here next to
my lectures, and the following books (listed in alphabetical order
by first author's last name, as opposed to order of importance) may
serve as references for parts of the course and are available from
my office: Hardy & Briffa, Animal Contests (Cambridge University Press, 2013, ISBN 9780521887106) Konrad, Strategy and Dynamics in Contests (Oxford University Press, 2009, ISBN 9780199549603) Mesterton-Gibbons, A Concrete Approach to Mathematical Modelling (Wiley, 2007, ISBN 9780470171073) Mitchell & Vasquez, Conflict, War, and Peace (CQ Press, 2014, ISBN 9781452244495) (and perhaps others to be added later) |
| Models of war and other group conflict are dispersed across a
variety of journals. Those yielding suitable material for a
presentation include the following: American Political Science Review Cliodynamics Conflict Management and Peace Science Games and Economic Behavior International Interactions International Security Journal of Conflict Resolution Journal of Peace Research (and perhaps others to be added later) |
|
| Credit: | 3 semester hours |
| Syllabus: | We shall introduce and critique as many different models as we have time for, but details of the topics to be covered will be an emergent property of the course (as opposed to being known in advance). Ultimately, the syllabus will correspond to the titles of the lectures posted here |
| Prerequisites: | Graduate-student status within the Department of Mathematics, or my consent |
| Course format: | Lectures and discussion |
| Grades: | Will be based on class participation, including a presentation during Week 6 on a topic to be decided |
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Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family and other
documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious
holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be
accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have
a valid excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose
dependent children experience serious illness.
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Americans With Disabilities Act:
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodation should:
(1) register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability
Resource Center; and
(2) bring a letter to the instructor indicating the need for accommodation
and what type.
Please note that instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodation to a student until appropriate verification from the Student Disability Resource Center has been provided.
This syllabus and other class materials are available in alternative format upon request.
For more information about services available to FSU students with disabilities, contact the:
Student Disability Resource Center
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108 Student Services Building
Florida State University
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(850) 644-9566 (voice)
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sdrc@admin.fsu.edu
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RECOMMENDED LANGUAGE FOR SYLLABI:
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On-campus tutoring and writing assistance is available for many courses at Florida State University. For more information, visit the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) Tutoring Services' comprehensive list of on-campus tutoring options—see http://ace.fsu.edu.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/tutoring or contact tutor@fsu.edu. High-quality tutoring is available by appointment and on a walk-in basis. These services are offered by tutors trained to encourage the highest level of individual academic success while upholding personal academic integrity.
Syllabus Change Policy
"Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice.''
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PDFs PDFs PDFs PDFs PDFs |
PDFs PDFs PDFs PDFs PDFs |
PDFs PDFs PDFs PDFs |
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