Browsing by Subject "Social network analysis"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
An analysis of relations among European countries based on UEFA European football championship
(Sciendo, 2022) Duymus, Mustafa; Kokundu, Ilayda Beyreli; Kas, Miray
With the increasing globalization in the 21st century, football has become more of an industry than a sport that supports tremendous amount of money circulation. More players started to play in countries different from their original nationality. Some countries used this evolution process of football to improve the quality of their leagues. The clubs in these leagues recruited the best players from all around the world. In international football, nations are represented by their best players, and these players might come from a variety of different leagues. To observe the countries that host the best players of these nations, we analyze the trend for the nations represented in the European Football Championship. We construct social networks for the last eight tournaments from 1992 to 2020 and calculate network-level metrics for each. We find the most influential countries for each tournament and analyze the relationship between country influence and economic revenue of football in those countries. We use several clustering algorithms to pinpoint the communities in obtained social networks and discuss the relevance of our findings to cultural and historical events.
Open Access
Deciphering the crime-terror Nexus: an empirical analysis of the structural characteristics of terrorists in Narco-terror networks
(Springer, 2020-03) Ünal, Mustafa Coşar
By using Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique, this study analyzes the structural characteristics of five PKK related narco-terror networks. It examines the roles and positions occupied by PKK members to uncover the nature of the terrorist nexus itself and analyzes structural characteristics to identify these networks’ prioritization between security and efficiency. This study finds that terrorists have key roles in narco-terror networks, i.e., leaders, managers, or drug suppliers. They take powerful and central positions in either controlling central hubs (exerting authority) or bridging separate subgroups (acting as a gateway) constituting the core parts of networks. Further, this study finds that despite terrorists’ dominating role and positions in control and coordination of information and resources, narco-terror networks reveal more reliance on efficiency than security. In general, these networks tend to be clustered into dense subgroups that are attached to networks’ cores, reflecting relatively denser and centralized structures with short average paths. Yet, networks have core(s) whereby key players act predominantly in these cores rather than on peripheries. Notwithstanding the dominance of terrorist members, narco-terror networks seem to focus more on efficiency, and the terrorist nexus in such networks does not appear to make these networks more security-driven. This study asserts that the nature of activity (i.e., crime for material incentive) determines how offenders behave and how covert networks are structured.
Open Access
Do terrorists make a difference in criminal networks? An empirical analysis on illicit drug and narco-terror networks in their prioritization between security and efficiency
(Elsevier, 2018) Ünal, Mustafa Coşar
By using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this study empirically analyzes five PKK Affiliated narco-terror and five illicit drug networks in the Turkish context to identify and compare their approach to the security-efficiency tradeoff. Results revealed that although terrorist members are in key roles and powerful positions (central and intermediary), average scores of cohesion and centrality of narco-terror networks seem to be only slightly more security driven than those of illicit drug networks. However, analyses of individual networks from both types yield no clear structural distinction in prioritizing between security and efficiency. This study, in general, finds that networks from both camps are structurally more efficiency driven. They are denser with more direct ties; generally clustered into sub-groups attached to networks’ cores and peripheries; they reflect coreness, where key players act in pivotal positions with high power, centrality, and brokerage to efficiently control and coordinate network activities. This is then found to cause security vulnerabilities of greater visibility (susceptibility of disruption) and high dependence on central actors constituting structural holes (possible elimination of entire network when compromised). However, sample networks strive to balance the security by keeping the paths—for the flow of information—shorter and being clustered into denser sub-groups with strong pre-existing trust-ties (kinship and friendship) which reduces the risk of detection and infiltration. This study argues that the nature of objective dominates the structural characteristics regarding the security-efficiency dilemma, and thus, both illicit drug and PKK affiliated narco-terror networks in Turkish context are driven by material incentives relying more on efficiency and striving to balance organizational security with social characteristics (trust ties).