This thesis presents a study on multi-agent systems. Such systems find numerous applications such as multi-vehicle control in robotics, the design of smart distributed energy networks and the modeling of opinion dynamics. In a first part, we present new results regarding consensus theory which extend the recent work from Hendrickx and Tsitsiklis on cut-balanced consensus. Then, we apply the consensus system to the control of a fleet of vehicles. We present several results regarding velocity alignment (flocking). This study is based upon a graph robustness analysis in order to preserve the connectivity of the interaction network. This concept is of main importance in this study. In the last part, we state results froma collaborative work with a sociologist regarding the social network linked to the controversy concerning o-road motorized leisure in France. We study the link between the national and local scenes. To do so, we use large graph visualization tools and actor centrality measures.
