Simulation-based problem-solving environments for conflict studies

Abstract

At the dawn of the 21st century, uncertainty, change, and conflicts are inescapable facts of life. The challenge is to explore how the advances in simulation gaming as reflected in its state-of-the-art as well as in its potential can be helpful for conflict and peace studies. This article presents the issues, challenges, and foundations underlying multimodels and the multisimulation gaming strategy. Taxonomy of multimodels and plausible multisimulation realization strategies are presented to contribute to the development of advanced simulation-based problem-solving environments for social and political scientists to improve their ability to conceive, perceive, and foresee conflicting situations to ideally prevent them and—if they are inevitable—to resolve them.