Linking Policy Networks and Policy Learning: Social Interactions, Belief Updates and Policy Change

Abstract

Learning dynamics are social as much as cognitive: belief updates by one policy actor do not only depend on his or her cognition, but also on the nature of interactions he or she has with other policy actors. Despite this social nature of learning, only a few studies rely on SNA to examine policy learning dynamics. Which networks foster policy learning? Which forms of policy learning do they facilitate? How do networks contribute the transformation of individual learning into collective learning? Which methods of analysis are appropriate to study of the interplay between the cognitive and social nature of policy learning? How do learning, resource interdependences, and exchanges interact, within policy networks? What are the ultimate effects of this interaction on policy changes? We call for papers addressing these questions from a conceptual or empirical perspective.