Network concepts are increasingly viewed as offering new approaches to the analysis of organizations, and the understanding of policy processes. In general, the literature on network structures and processes within public administration is quite positive. However, this mode of organization is also used for illegal ends leading to the concept of "dark networks." This dissertation is an experiment that uses simulation in the form of agent-based modeling to destabilize a given dark network. The case of the Somali piracy saga and the documented movement of ransom proceeds into the neighboring country of Kenya is the setting of the simulation. Given this network, the dissertation provides strategies and tactics for inhibiting the flow of proceeds into Kenya as a supplement to other maritime piracy suppression efforts. The dissertation investigates three strategies for combating dark networks in these settings. All three strategies are found to have noticeable adverse effects on the modeled preferential attachment network. Policy implications for the simulation findings are discussed and recommendations made for unhinging network processes in other dark network arena.
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