Publication

This paper describes a project that sought to combine concepts drawn from complexity theory, cognitive science and ideology research in order to provide tools that researchers and practitioners can use to understand, manage and resolve ideologically-tainted conflicts. In the end, the project's authors developed two methods that can be specifically used to clarify the role of ideology in conflict situations -- 1) Cognitive-Affective Mapping (CAM), which is an analytical method that depicts beliefs as networks of concepts that interact in a manner akin to the neural networks that process them; and 2) Ideological State Space, which classifies ideologies by identifying the various ways in which they can exist.