Dominic Johnson, University of Edinburgh

Project 1

Evolutionary Models of Politics

War collage

Evolutionary and biological approaches are increasingly being used in the social sciences as novel methods for analysis, theory development, and to improve predictions of social phenomena. Evolution and biology offer insights at several levels of analysis:

  1. Individual level (evolutionary psychology, endocrinology, neuroscience, genetics)
  2. Group level (social phenomena, cultural change, organizational behavior, population dynamics)
  3. Interstate level (interactions of states, cooperation, conflict, war, and change in world politics)

Related Links

Bibliography

Fowler, J. H. & Schreiber, D. (2008) "Biology, Politics, and the Emerging Science of Human Nature." Science 322, 912–914.

Sagarin, R. D. & Taylor, T. (2008) Natural Security: A Darwinian Approach to a Dangerous World. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rosen, S. P. (2004). War and Human Nature. Princeton: Princeton University Press.