Political Networks

The Political Networks Section aims to provide a multidisciplinary space of convergence for scholars with diverse research interests who share an understanding of the importance of network processes and their analysis in political life. This is coupled with strong attention to the integration (and advancement) of theory and empirical data. Political networks are conceived of in a broad sense - as defined around political actors, events that are relevant to the political biographies of individuals, and the use of digital communication technologies within political dynamics. Thus, ties may consist of exchanges of resources, information, and symbols, as well as of collaborations and communications that may occur both on- and offline. Based on the successful past ECPR GC sections, the following panels were included: Panel 1: Climate Policy Networks Climate change is a ‘wicked problem’ and a major challenge to governance and policymaking. Policy network analysis allows us to capture the ‘wicked’ complexities of formal institutional and informal linkages between diverse yet interdependent policy actors and enables us to explain how such arrangements shape climate change policymaking and policy implementation. The call is open to theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to climate policy networks, specifically but not exclusive multi-layer, comparative, and longitudinal network analyses. We particularly welcome studies on climate policy and multi-level governance, coalition politics, and climate network perspectives in socio-ecological systems. Panels 2: Comparing Political Networks Comparing political networks over time and space is a powerful strategy to support causal explanations of the antecedents or consequences of network structures. Comparisons over space can include cross-country comparisons or within-country comparisons across regions or policy sectors. Comparisons over time can include network observations at several discrete time points or can be based on the dynamic assessment of network evolution. Despite the potential benefit of such comparisons to our understanding of political networks, such research designs have remained rare. The panel thus invites papers with an explicit comparative research design related to any type of political networks. Panel 3: From Texts to Networks: Semantic, Socio-Semantic, and Discourse Networks Collecting data on political networks via organizational surveys is a considerable challenge. At the same time, large volumes of texts containing information on political actors and their relations are publicly available. This panel showcases research activities, which obtain discourse, semantic, and socio-semantic networks from text data, and shows how network research might benefit from approaches that 1) use text as a database for political networks; 2) utilize various text analysis approaches to find ties between actors; or 3) combine text analysis with social networks. Panel 4: Network Analysis in International Relations This panel examines the added value of using network analysis to examine questions of international cooperation pertaining to IR. We welcome submissions that apply a relational approach and discuss the advantages and challenges of such methodological innovations in fields such as foreign policy analysis or crisis management and, in particular, studies from the Global South, which remain underrepresented in political network research. This panel aims to cross-fertilize IR research with relational public policy scholarship and to critically examine the usability of relational approaches in IR. We understand relationality to encompass 'any theories united by an emphasis on the theoretical and analytical significance of connections, ties, transactions, and other kinds of relations among entities’. Panel 5: Movement and Collective Action Networks Over nearly two decades, we have witnessed significant waves of mobilization and contention, particularly in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. This panel aims to explore how movements and collective actors have adapted their network structures, action repertoires, and strategies in response to evolving social, economic, political, and environmental challenges. By capturing the macro-micro networked nature of collective action, we will investigate the dynamics of collaboration and interconnection among groups and individuals engaged in contentious politics, encompassing a broad range of action forms, including social activism. Panel 6: The Politics of Environmental Networks Environmental problems such as climate emergencies, biodiversity loss, natural resource depletion, and associated environmental justice concerns have spurred a vast amount of research on environmental governance, which has increasingly adopted network perspectives. However, there is much to be learned about how politics in different environmental networks relates to the broader governance contexts and systems shaping policy and, ultimately, socio-environmental outcomes, and in particular, from studies conducted in the Global South, a region still underrepresented in political network research. This panel aims to bring together state-of-the-art political network analysis approaches that study the diverse features of the politics of environmental networks. Panel 7: Network structures and policy output This panel invites papers that examine the impact of political network structures on policy output. Political networks, encompassing relationships among government officials, interest groups, civil society, and international bodies, shape decision-making processes and influence the development, adoption, and implementation of policies. By analyzing different network structures, this panel explores how network configurations affect policy output and implementation. We specifically invite papers that conduct qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), but also other studies investigating the impact of network structure on policy output and implementation. This panel aims to bridge theoretical and empirical perspectives on networks as crucial drivers in shaping policy outcomes. Panel 8: Exploring Collaboration and Conflict in Environmental Governance Political processes aimed at collaboratively addressing complex environmental issues are inherently dynamic and emergent. In these contexts, collaboration and conflict often coexist, significantly shaped by the behaviors and communications of the involved actors, power struggles, and the broader discourses present in various media. Recent research emphasizes the importance of analyzing cooperation and conflict in tandem. However, this interplay in political networks is ambiguous. This panel seeks papers that combine diverse relational approaches, exploring how different perspectives can illuminate the intricate dynamics of collaboration and conflict that influence environmental governance. Short Bios Maria Brockhaus is a Professor at the University of Helsinki. She uses policy network analysis to study forests’ role in climate change action and the political economy of deforestation in the Global South. Petr Ocelík is an Associate Professor at the Masaryk University. He uses SNA to study climate and energy policies.