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12 - Networks

Collecting Data for Social Network Analysis

from Part III - Collecting and Analysing Data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2023

By
Matthew Paterson
Edited by
Hannah Hughes  and
Alice B. M. Vadrot
Hannah Hughes
Affiliation:
Aberystwyth University
Alice B. M. Vadrot
Affiliation:
Universität Wien, Austria
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Summary

This chapter explains how we might use Social Network Analysis (SNA) in studying agreement-making in global environmental governance. It explains a number of the key methodological processes involved in doing SNA, regarding different ways to go about data collection and specific analytical techniques that can be used within SNA that are of particular interest within studies of global environmental governance, such as network structure or the brokerage position of particular individuals or organizations. It also shows how SNA has used by scholars in the field, notably to study patterns of connection within global governance complexes, forms of authority of specific groups of individuals within environmental governance, for example deriving from positions within scientific or professional networks. Finally it makes a number of suggestions about how to thinking about integrating SNA into broader mixed-method studies of agreement-making, including using it as background research prior to visiting negotiating meetings, to identify patterns to be explored in other ways at those sites, as well as to use the negotiating sites themselves to generate accounts of social networks in action in environmental governance.

Keywords

social network analysisnetworkinggovernance complexesexpert authoritynetwork structurecentrality
Type
Chapter
Information
Conducting Research on Global Environmental Agreement-Making , pp. 228 - 246
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

1.Borgatti, S., Everett, M., and Freeman, L. (2002). Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.Google Scholar
This is the “entry level” software for carrying out SNA. It is simple to use and generates both statistical analysis and network visualizations. It can be downloaded here: https://sites.google.com/site/ucinetsoftware/home.Google Scholar
2.Borgatti, S., Everett, M., and Johnson, J. (2018). Analyzing Social Networks. London: Sage.Google Scholar
This is specifically designed to introduce you to the ucinet software.Google Scholar
3.Hadden, J. (2015). Networks in Contention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
This is a particularly fine use of SNA in relation to environmental negotiations. It tracks NGO and social movement activism at UNFCCC COPs, and it shows how the spread of more confrontational tactics amongst movement actors in the run-up to the Copenhagen COP in 2009 was shaped by the structure of the networks of NGOs.Google Scholar
4.Scott, J. (2012). Social Network Analysis. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
This is a readable, clear textbook on SNA, describing its underlying assumptions, key concepts and terms, and basic procedures regarding data collection analysis extremely effectively.Google Scholar

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