An Agent-Based Social Simulation for Citizenship Competences and Conflict Resolution Styles

Abstract

The development of citizenship competences plays an important role in a complex system like society. Thus, to analyze how such competences impact other contexts is a great challenge because this kind of study involves the work with people and the use of variables that depend on human behaviors. In this sense, many studies have highlighted the advantage of using simulation systems and tools. In particular, the agent-based social simulation field relies upon the Semantic Web to manage knowledge representation in social scenarios. This study focuses on how citizenship competences impact conflict resolution. Moreover, a simulation model in which citizens interact to resolve conflicts by considering citizenship competences and conflict resolution styles is also introduced. It was developed in NetLogo together with an extension that connects it with the ontology of competences. Results show that the higher interactions of citizens-conflicts, the higher level of citizenship competences, and the number of conflicts solved is higher when using citizenship competences.