Understanding Dark Networks

A Strategic Framework for the Use of Social Network Analysis

By (author) Daniel Cunningham, Sean Everton, Philip Murphy

Publication date:

07 March 2016

Length of book:

388 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442249448

Dark networks are the illegal and covert networks (e.g, insurgents, jihadi groups, or drug cartels) that security and intelligence analysts must track and identify to be able to disrupt and dismantle them. This text explains how this can be done by using the Social Network Analysis (SNA) method. Written in an accessible manner, it provides an introduction to SNA, presenting tools and concepts, and showing how SNA can inform the crafting of a wide array of strategies for the tracking and disrupting of dark networks.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Introduction
Part I: Introduction to Social Network Analysis
Chapter 1: Social Networks
Chapter 2: Strategic Options for Disrupting Dark Networks
Chapter 3: Collecting, Coding, and Manipulating Social Network Data
Part II: Exploratory Social Network Analysis
Chapter 4: Topographical Features of Dark Networks
Chapter 5: Detecting Subgroups In Networks
Chapter 6: Identifying Central Actors In Networks
Chapter 7: Brokerage within Networks
Chapter 8: Positional Approaches to Analyzing Networks
Part III: Confirmatory Social Network Analysis
Chapter 9: Digging Deeper and Testing Hypotheses
Chapter 10: More Hypothesis Testing: Using Exponential Random Graph Models (Ergms) To Explain Tie Formation
Chapter 11: Longitudinal Analyses of Dark Networks
Part IV: Conclusion
Chapter 12: Lessons Learned
Appendix 1: Data Description And Codebook
Appendix 2: Glossary of Terms
Appendix 3: Analytic Software
References
Index
About the Authors

Finally! Accessible yet comprehensive, Understanding Dark Networks is a much needed and long overdue guide to analyzing covert, and all other, social networks. This is a must-read for anyone even considering using social network analysis effectively.