How do boundaries impact human behavior

Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. We consider the conditions of peace and violence among ethnic groups, testing a theory designed to predict the locations of violence and interventions that can promote peace. Characterizing the model's success in predicting peace requires examples where peace prevails despite diversity. Switzerland is recognized as a country of peace, stability and prosperity.

This is surprising because of its linguistic and religious diversity that in other parts of the world lead to conflict and violence. Here we analyze how peaceful stability is maintained. Our analysis shows that peace does not depend on integrated coexistence, but rather on well defined topographical and political boundaries separating groups, allowing for partial autonomy within a single country.

In Switzerland, mountains and lakes are an important part of the boundaries between sharply defined linguistic areas. Political canton and circle sub-canton boundaries often separate religious groups. Where such boundaries do not appear to be sufficient, we find that specific aspects of the population distribution guarantee either sufficient separation or sufficient mixing to inhibit intergroup violence according to the quantitative theory of conflict.

In exactly one region, a porous mountain range does not adequately separate linguistic groups and that region has experienced significant violent conflict, leading to the recent creation of the canton of Jura. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that violence between groups can be inhibited by physical and political boundaries. A similar analysis of the area of the former Yugoslavia shows that during widespread ethnic violence existing political boundaries did not coincide with the boundaries of distinct groups, but peace prevailed in specific areas where they did coincide.

The success of peace in Switzerland may serve as a model to resolve conflict in other ethnically diverse countries and regions of the world.

Efforts to resolve conflicts and achieve sustained peace are guided by perspectives about how conflict and peace are based in interpersonal and intergroup relationships, as well as historical, social, economic and political contexts. Recently, we introduced a complex systems theory of ethnic conflict that describes conflicts in areas of the former Yugoslavia and India with high accuracy [1].

In this theory, details of history, and social and economic conditions are not the primary determinants of peace or conflict. Instead the geographic arrangement of populations is key. Significantly, our theory points to two distinct conditions that are conducive to peace — well mixed and well separated. The first corresponds to the most commonly striven for peaceful framework: a well integrated society [2]. The second corresponds to spatial separation, partition and self determination — a historically used but often reviled approach [3].

Here we consider a more subtle third approach, that of within-state boundaries in which intergroup cooperation and autonomy are both present. The success of this approach is of particular importance as the world becomes more connected through international cooperation. As illustrated by the European Union, the role of borders as boundaries is changing. In order to evaluate the role of within-state boundaries in peace, we considered the coexistence of groups in Switzerland.

Switzerland is known as a country of great stability, without major internal conflict despite multiple languages and religions [4] , [5]. Switzerland is not a well-mixed society, it is heterogeneous geographically in both language and religion Fig. But the existence of both alpine and non-alpine boundaries between groups and the presence of multiple languages and religions within individual cantons suggest partition is not essential for peaceful coexistence in Switzerland. In identifying the causes of peace, the literature has focused on socio-economic and political conditions.

Geography plays an unclear, presumably supporting, role in these frameworks. The analysis of coexistence in Switzerland is also part of a broader debate about whether social and geographical aspects of federalism promote peace or conflict [15].

In this paper we analyze the geographical distribution of groups in Switzerland based solely upon the hypothesis that spatial patterns formed by ethnic groups are predictive of unrest and violence among the groups [1].

The model also allows that topographic or political boundaries may serve as separations to promote peace [1] , [16]. We test the ability of the theory to predict peaceful coexistence in the context of internal country boundaries in Switzerland. Where explicit boundaries do not exist, such as in mixed cantons where alpine boundaries are absent, violence might be expected, and the results of the model in these areas serve as a particularly stringent test of the theory.

In most such cases violence is not predicted, consistent with what is found. In one area a significant level of violence is predicted, and in fact violence is actually observed. The analysis sheds light on the example of Switzerland as a model for peaceful coexistence.

The former Yugoslavia serves as a contrasting example of widespread violence. The theory also correctly identifies areas of conflict and areas of peace in the former Yugoslavia.

The precision of the results provides some assurance of the usefulness of the theory in planning interventions that might promote peace in many areas of the world. The geographical distribution theory [1] is independent of the specification of the individual types — consistent with a universality of type behavior. Violence arises due to the structure of boundaries between groups rather than as a result of inherent conflicts between the groups themselves.

Even though diverse social and economic factors trigger violence, it occurs when the spatial population structure creates a propensity to conflict, so that spatial heterogeneity itself is predictive of local violence.

The importance of collective behavior implies that ethnic violence can be studied in the universal context of collective dynamics, where models can identify how individual and collective behavior are related.

As we consider it here the analysis is applicable to communal violence and not to criminal activity or international warfare. In highly mixed regions, groups are not large enough to develop strong collective identities, or to identify public spaces as associated with one or another cultural group.

At the other extreme, when groups are larger than the critical size, they typically form self-sufficient entities that enjoy local sovereignty.

Partial separation with poorly defined boundaries fosters conflict. Violence arises when groups are of a geographical size that they are able to impose cultural norms on public spaces, but where there are still intermittent violations of these rules due to the overlap of cultural domains.

Hence, we expect violence to arise when groups of a certain characteristic size exist. The model depends on population geography and not on the mechanisms by which the population structure arose, which may include individual choice as well as internally or externally directed migrations. The use of population geography, determined by census, to predict violence may work well because geography is an important aspect of the dimensions of social space, and other aspects of social behavior e.

Physical boundaries such as mountain ranges and lakes or national and subnational political boundaries that establish local autonomy may prevent the violations of cultural norms that cause friction between groups and promote self-determination, inhibiting the triggers of violence.

By creating autonomous domains of activity and authority, the boundaries shield groups of the characteristic size from each other when they correspond with their geographical domains.

Mathematically see Methods , evaluation of the model begins by mapping census data onto a spatial grid. In this work we included the fraction of every population type on each site.

The expected violence is determined by detecting patches consisting of islands or peninsulas of one type surrounded by populations of other types. These features are detected by pattern recognition using the correlation of the population for each population type with a template filter that has a positive center and a negative surround. The template used is based on a wavelet filter [1] , [17] , [18].

The wavelet filter is a conventional filter for identifying the geographic size of spatial regions. It corresponds also to the on-center off-surround detection elements of spatial size of regions in the human retina. Other methods that identify the size of groups provide the same results.

We also find that the results are insensitive to the specific values of the parameters and therefore the analysis is highly robust to variations in the methodology and its parameters. The diameter of the positive region of the wavelet, i.

The parameter is to be determined by agreement of the model with reports of violence, and results were robust to varying the parameter across a wide range of values. To model the effect of boundaries, we include only the populations within each of the autonomous areas to determine the expected violence.

Where boundaries are incomplete, as might be the case for mountains, lakes and convoluted political boundaries, we include only the populations that are in line of sight through gaps or past ends of boundaries to determine the expected violence within a region.

For each location, populations past boundaries of the line of sight are replaced by neutral populations. The location of groups of a certain size is indicative of a violence-prone area, but the precise location of violence is not determined.

We construct maps of the proximity of every location to the identified violence-prone groups, and the proximity of each location to reported violence.

The correlation of these maps tests the ability of the theory to predict violence prone and peaceful regions.

The model was validated without boundaries [1] by applying it to the former Yugoslavia, yielding correlations of up to 0. The results were robust to varying the characteristic length between 18—60 km, and thresholds in the range 0. Our revised method with fractional population values on every site gave similar results with correlations of up to 0. We now consider the linguistic and religious groups in Switzerland, each in turn. Initial analyses and the historical sequence of boundary formation suggested considering topographical barriers when discussing language groups, and political barriers when considering religious groups.

The geography of languages primarily reflects the extent of invasions prior to the existence of current political boundaries and has remained stable in most areas for over a thousand years [5]. The modern state was established afterwards, and religious conflict played a role in establishing the internal political boundaries [5] — [7]. Census data were obtained for municipalities communes in Switzerland bfs.

We study the three main language groups — German, French and Italian Fig. We considered only the effect of physical boundaries due to lakes and mountain ranges Fig. We determined the presence of topographical boundaries using an edge detection algorithm on topographical heights Fig.

This process identifies where there is a sharp change in height, i. Elevation data with a spatial resolution of approximately 91 m [19] was coarsened to pixels of size km. Edges were identified where there was an increase of more than 1.

The conclusions are robust to variations in the elevation angle Methods. Calculations of the propensity to violence are shown in Fig. Without boundaries, the correlation of the wavelet filter yields a maximum propensity to violence value of 0.

With topographical boundaries the maximum propensity is reduced to 0. Results across filter lengths in the range 24—56 km, shown in Fig.

Between the German and French-speaking areas the Jura mountain range and Lake Neuchatel serve as mitigating boundaries in the northwest, and the Bernese Alps are mitigating boundaries in the south. The interface between Lake Neuchatel and the Bernese Alps through the canton of Fribourg has no mitigating boundary, but is almost straight — neither side is surrounded by the other, so the propensity is not high. Between the Italian and German-speaking areas, the Lepontine Alps dramatically reduce the calculated propensity.

Maps of Switzerland showing A proportion of linguistic groups according to the census, B elevation within Switzerland, C overlay of linguistic groups onto a digital elevation model, and D topographical features including lakes blue and ridges extracted using edge detection cyan. Comparison of calculated propensity color bar to violence between linguistic groups without E and with F the inclusion of topographical features as boundaries using a characteristic length scale of 24 km.

Mercator projection, except C which is the Europe Albers projection. The distance scale is approximate. Maximum level of the propensity to violence between linguistic groups in Switzerland as calculated in the model as a function of the characteristic length scale. We obtained a correlation higher than 0. Manifesting Swiss willingness to create political boundaries, the conflict led to a referendum, and in the modern-day canton of Jura was created out of part of the north of what was then the canton of Bern [7].

While the conflict underlying the unrest was linguistic, local votes led to separation by majority religion. However, conflict did not end, and a proposal to shift the French-speaking Protestant areas of Bern to join French-speaking Catholic Jura is currently being considered [22]. While the topographic boundaries are the historical boundaries between linguistic groups, and canton boundaries may not be able to play the same role, the creation of the canton of Jura suggests also considering the role of political boundaries in linguistic separation.

Calculations including the canton boundaries reduce the maximum calculated propensity to violence to 0. The uncertainty about the role of canton boundaries for linguistic separation prevents drawing firmer conclusions. Our results suggest that a calculated propensity to violence using a threshold in a range 0.

Remarkably, at these thresholds high correlations also are found in the former Yugoslavia. That is, similar values for the calculated propensity to violence correspond to actual violence in dramatically different social contexts. The two main religious groups of Switzerland are Protestant and Catholic. We obtained canton boundaries from mapping resources www. Circles boundaries were identified by district lists www. Without boundaries, the maximum calculated propensity to violence is very high 0.

Comparison of propensity to violence between religious groups without E and with F the inclusion of administrative boundaries using a characteristic length scale of 24 km.

Propensity value scale is shown by color bar. The corresponding maps are shown in the methods section. This result specifically suggests that length scales of 24—32 km correspond to a geographical group size that is susceptible to violence.

Maximum level of the propensity to violence between religious groups in Switzerland as a function of characteristic length scale according to the model. The dashed line represents the inferred threshold of propensity of violence in order for violence to occur. The separation of religions by canton is apparent geographically and historically. Consistent with the historical experience, the model results imply that without these boundaries violence would be expected, but with them it is not.

In some cases the area of a canton includes small enclaves embedded in another canton whose majority religion corresponds to the canton to which they belong. Still, there are exceptions to the separation of religions by canton. In each case the geography is sufficient to limit the propensity to violence.

For example, there is an area of Protestant majority in the far north of the Catholic canton of Fribourg. It is, however on a long appendage and therefore is not surrounded by Catholic areas, and so has a low propensity to violence according to the analysis. Historical evidence is found in conflict in the s [7]. The Reformation led to cantons adopting a Protestant or retaining a Catholic identity. A brief war resulted in a peace treaty that established religious freedom by canton.

The intentional formation of political boundaries in regions that would have violence according to the model, and the subsequent model propensity to violence below the threshold associated with a lack of actual violence are consistent with the hypothesis on the role of boundaries in peaceful coexistence.

Our modified method including boundaries was tested on the previous case study of Yugoslavia, consisting of the combined area of Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro. Topographical boundaries reduce the maximum propensity from 0. The correlations of predicted and reported violence changes were insignificantly lower, with correlations of 0.

That political boundaries do not have a greater impact on the calculated violence implies that they do not align with the geographical boundaries between groups. We also extended the area to include Macedonia and Slovenia, parts of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before gaining independence Fig.

With the political boundaries the correlation is still 0. The lower correlation is specifically due to a high calculated propensity to violence along the borders of Slovenia with Croatia, and of Macedonia with Serbia and Kosovo. These areas, however, were peaceful — consistent with the predictions when boundaries are included. Our results suggest that these political borders were instrumental in reducing ethnic violence, whereas the violence in other areas of Yugoslavia was not prevented because of poor alignment of borders with population groups.

These results are robust to variations in both the size of the wavelet filter and the threshold of violence applied. A Map of the area of the former Yugoslavia showing administrative provinces. Propensity to violence calculated without B and with C administrative boundaries, using a characteristic length of 21 km. Locations of boundaries are shown on both plots as solid and dashed yellow lines respectively.

Sites of reported violence are shown as red dots [18]. Spurious violence is predicted along the borders of Slovenia and Macedonia when boundaries are not included. We briefly summarize seven categories of distinct sucessful comparisons between model predictions and the observed data that are contained in the results. Our examination of linguistic and religious groups in Switzerland included cases where violence is predicted without the presence of boundaries, but is mitigated by the consideration of topographical and political boundaries appropriate to linguistic and religious groups, respectively.

Topographical boundaries reduced violence between linguistic groups. This occurred along a Alpine boundaries of the Swiss Alps between German-speaking and Italian-speaking populations, b Alpine boundaries between German-speaking and French-speaking populations, and c Jura range boundaries between German-speaking and French-speaking populations.

Political boundaries reduced violence between religious groups. Our analysis also identified locations in which our model does not predict violence despite linguistic or religious heterogeneity and no explicit boundaries.

We also identified one area at the highest level of calculated residual propensity to violence and it corresponds to an area of unresolved historical conflict. The northeastern part of the canton of Bern is the location of both the highest prediction of propensity to violence, and a real-world history of intergroup tension.

The unique condition of the conflict in this part of Switzerland and its correspondence to the prediction by the model provides additional confirmation of the model. Considering the predicted and reported violence in the former Yugoslavia also demonstrated the importance of the boundaries which coincide with ethnic divisions.

Political boundaries between Slovenia and Macedonia and the other countries of the former Yugoslavia prevent violence along their borders. The borders between the countries of Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro were not aligned with the boundaries between ethnic groups and so were ineffective at reducing violence. This work is part of a broader effort to use new methods for quantitative analysis of patterns of violence and their prevention [23] — [31].

There is also interest in ethnic group interactions across national borders [32] — [34]. More generally, in recent years there have been increasing efforts to understand the causes and enabling conditions for civil war and ethnic conflict [36] — [] see also supplementary materials of Ref.

These efforts include examinations of geography and other structures within countries [50] — [67] as well as the effects of transnational geography [68] — [79]. Extensive analysis explores the role of political structures, particularly federalism, in enabling or preventing civil and ethnic conflict [80] — [99]. Research has begun to include quantitative studies and modeling to understand human behavior and conflict [] — [].

A body of research examines Switzerland regarding the presence or absence of tensions and possible causes [] — []. We have shown that groups that are not well-mixed but are geographically separated by natural or political boundaries into autonomous domains are peaceful in both Switzerland and the former Yugoslavia.

The highest calculated propensity to violence is between linguistic groups in the northern part of the canton of Bern, where historically unresolved real world tensions actually exist. Our analysis indicates that both administrative and natural barriers can play a significant role in mitigating conflict between religious and linguistic groups. Historical evidence suggests that for religious groups the boundaries in Switzerland were created to provide autonomy to a group with a shared identity and avoid conflict among multiple groups.

Ongoing efforts to reduce tensions in Bern include introducing new political boundaries. Please see our Privacy Policy for further information. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive these cookies.

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