Two approaches to qualitative modelling of a nation's drugs trade

BARLAS Y., Alexander M.

SYSTEM DYNAMICS REVIEW, vol.13, no.3, pp.205-222, 1997 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 13 Issue: 3
  • Publication Date: 1997
  • Journal Name: SYSTEM DYNAMICS REVIEW
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.205-222
  • Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University Affiliated: No

Abstract

The changing political and military scene means that military planners may have to deal with problems with which they are not familiar. There is, therefore, a necessity for rapid analysis tools to help them to come to grips with a given problem quickly. This article shows how qualitative system dynamics has the potential to fill the role, using the drugs trade in a hypothetical country as an illustration. The technique is to draw influence diagrams at different levels of aggregation but it is also argued that such diagrams have limitations and may need to be supplemented by other tools of system enquiry. The Soft System Methodology is, therefore, used to support the influence diagrams. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.