Kinetic Modell ing and Electoral Competit ion

(Received and accepted November 2004) Abst rac t--The structure of generalized kinetic models is developed to enquire how effectively they can be used in the fields of human reactions and of the social sciences. In particular, a specific model is designed to describe the dynamics of a composite, structured society such as that of a competing bipartisan political system. The model structure contains terms with localized interactions and mean field terms. The first part of the paper deals with the mathematical framework. In the second part, a comprehensive model is proposed. Finally, some results of a set of simulations are mentioned and a critical analysis towards research perspectives i formulated. @ 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords--Genera l ized kinetic model, lntegro-differential equations, Population dynamics, Po-litical dynamics, Social behaviours, Electoral competition, Voting strategies. 1