Date of Award
6-26-2026
Date Published
July 2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Political Science
Advisor(s)
Ryan Griffiths
Subject Categories
International Relations | Political Science | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
States participate in two levels of institutions at the same time. They interact with one another directly through bilateral institutions, and in centralized forums through multilateral institutions. As two major components of international order, these institutional levels evolve both as a result of state behavior and as a factor altering state behavior. This dissertation develops a theory of institutional co-evolution derived from concepts based in traditional international relations theories, as well as theoretical propositions based in the interdisciplinary field of complexity theory. Institutions can be represented as networks, and the international system can be represented as a collection of network "layers". The co-evolutionary process can be described in the language of network co-evolution. Three stochastic actor-oriented models of one-mode/two-mode co-evolution evaluate hypotheses related to institutional co-evolution. Each model focuses on a specific institutional realm of international relations: diplomacy, trade and defense cooperation. While the specific mechanisms differ depending on the institutional realm, all three models indicate a trend of co-evolution between bilateral practices and multilateral organization membership. This leads to the conclusion that the evolution of international order can be described as a co-evolutionary process involving the complex interplay of bilateral and multilateral institutional levels.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
McCall, Michael Christopher, "Co-evolutionary networks in international relations" (2026). Dissertations - ALL. 2316.
https://surface.syr.edu/etd/2316
