Computational Methodologies in International Relations: Application and Appraisal

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13347
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: International relations
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Sakamoto Takuto 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 准教授 (40456182)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 瀧川 裕貴 東北大学, 学際科学フロンティア研究所, 助教 (60456340) ; 中井 豊 芝浦工業大学, システム理工学部, 教授 (00348905)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NAKAI Yutaka 芝浦工業大学, システム理工学部, 教授 (00348905)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 計算社会科学 / 国際理論 / 自然言語処理 / トピックモデル / ビッグデータ / 政治討議 / ソーシャルメディア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The ever-growing accumulation of fine-grained digital data on human behavior and social interactions, along with the accompanying development of diverse computational tools for analyzing these data, entails new possibilities for social sciences. Computational social science (CSS) is an emerging, but mostly untested interdisciplinary field that purports to harness these possibilities for the improved understanding of different social phenomena. We appraised the effectiveness of CSS methodologies in the specific contexts of political science and international relations by actively applying advanced computational tools (e.g., natural language processing, machine learning…) to substantive subjects (e.g., political polarization, moral foundations of public debate…) that are relevant to these fields. The two-year project produced a large volume of academic work, which revealed various opportunities and challenges that CSS is posing to political science and international relations.

Free Research Field

国際関係論