Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T17:46:01.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The roles actors play in policy networks: Central positions in strongly institutionalized fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2021

Karin Ingold Open the ORCID record for Karin Ingold [Opens in a new window] ,
Manuel Fischer  and
Dimitris Christopoulos
Karin Ingold*
Affiliation:
Institute of Political Science & Oeschger Centre of Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Switzerland Environmental Social Science Department, Eawag, Switzerland (e-mail: Manuel.Fischer@eawag.ch)
Manuel Fischer
Affiliation:
Environmental Social Science Department, Eawag, Switzerland (e-mail: Manuel.Fischer@eawag.ch)
Dimitris Christopoulos
Affiliation:
MODUL University, Vienna, Austria Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK (e-mail: dimitris.christopoulos@modul.ac.at)
*
*Corresponding author. Email: karin.ingold@ipw.unibe.ch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Centralities are a widely studied phenomenon in network science. In policy networks, central actors are of interest because they are assumed to control information flows, to link opposing coalitions and to directly impact decision-making. First, we study what type of actor (e.g., state authorities or interest groups) is able to occupy central positions in the highly institutionalized context of policy networks. Second, we then ask whether bonding or bridging centralities prove to be more stable over time. Third, we investigate how these types of centrality influence actors’ positions in a network over time. We therefore adopt a longitudinal perspective and run exponential random graph models, including lagged central network positions at t1 as the main independent variable for actors’ activity and popularity at t2. Results confirm that very few actors are able to maintain central positions over time.

Keywords

policy networkcentral network positionsERGMlongitudinal analysisSwitzerland
Type
Research Article
Information
Network Science , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 213 - 235
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Action Editor: Ulrik Brandes

References

Agneessens, F., & Wittek, R. (2011). Where do intra-organizational advice relations come from? The role of informal status and social capital in social exchange. Social Networks, 34, 333–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An, W., & McConnell, W. (2015). The origins of asymmetric ties in friendship networks: From status differential to self-perceived centrality. Network Science, 3, 269–292. doi: 10.1017/nws.2015.12 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angst, M., Widmer, A., Fischer, M., & Ingold, K. (2018). Connectors and coordinators in natural resource governance: insights from Swiss water supply. Ecology and Society, 23(2), 1. doi: 10.5751/ES-10030-230201 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardach, E. (1979). The Implementation Game: What Happens After a Bill Becomes a Law? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Berardo, R., & Scholz, J. T. (2010). Self-organizing policy networks: risk, partner selection and cooperation in estuaries. American Journal of Political Science, 54(3), 632–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beyers, J., & Braun, C. (2013). Ties that count: Explaining interest group access to policymakers. Journal of Public Policy, 34(1), 93–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, P, Koskinen, J., Hollway, J., Steglich, Ch ., & Stadtfeld, Ch. (2018). Change we can believe in: Comparing longitudinal network models on consistency, interpretability and predictive power. Social Networks, 52, 180–192. doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2017.08.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, P., Stadtfeld, C., & Snijders, T. A. (2016). Forms of Dependence Comparing SAOMs and ERGMs From Basic Principles. Sociological Methods & Research, 48(1), 202–239. doi: 10.1177/0049124116672680 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodin, O., & Crona, B. (2008). Management of natural resources as the community level: exploring the role of social capital and leadership in a rural fishing community. World Development, 26(12), 2763–2779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borgatti, S. P., Jones, C., & Everett, M. G. (1998). Network measures of social capital. Connections, 21(2), 27–36.Google Scholar
Borgatti, S. P., & Everett, M. G. (2006). A graph-theoretic perspective on centrality. Social Networks, 28(4), 466–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouwen, P. (2002). Corporate lobbying in the European Union: the logic of access. Journal of European Public Policy, 9(3), 365–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandes, U., Kosub, S., & Nick, B. (2012). Was messen Zentralitatsindizes. In Henning, M. & Stegbauer, C. (Eds.), Die Integration von Theorie und Methode in der Netzwerkforschung (pp. 33–52). Wiesbaden: VSVerlag fur Sozialwissenschaften.Google Scholar
Brass, D. J. (1984). Being in the right place: A structural analysis of individual influence in an organisation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 518–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brummel, R., Nelson, K., & Jakes, P. (2012). Burning through organizational boundaries? Examining inter-organizational communication networks in policy-mandated collaborative bushfire planning groups. Global Environmental Change, 22, 516–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, J. P. (2005). The contemporary presidency: Condoleezza Rice as NSC Advisor: A case study of the honest broker role. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 35(3), 554–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2015). Reinforced structural holes. Social Networks, 43, 149–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2005). Brokerage and Closure. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Burt, R. S. (2002). Bridge decay. Social Networks, 24, 333–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural Holes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christopoulos, D, & Ingold, K. (2015). Exceptional or just well connected? Political entrepreneurs and brokers in policy making. European Political Science Review, 7(3), 475–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J. (1986). Social theory, social research, and a theory of action. American Journal of Sociology, 91(6), 1309–1335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cranmer, S., & Desmarais, B. (2011). Inferential network analysis with exponential random graph models. Political Analysis, 19, 66–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowd, A. M., Marshall, N., Fleming, A., Jakku, E., Gaillard, E., & Howden, M. (2014). The role of networks in transforming Australian agriculture. Nature Climate Change 4, 558–563. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2275 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Everett, M. G., & Valente, T. W. (2016). Bridging, brokerage and betweenness. Social Networks, 44, 202–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feiock, R. C., Lee, I. W., & Park, H. J. (2012). Administrators’ and elected officials’ collaboration networks: Selecting partners to reduce risk in economic development. Public Administration Review, 72(1), 58–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, M. (2015). Institutions and power distribution among coalitions in decision-making processes. Journal of Public Policy, 35(2), 245–268. doi: 10.1017/S0143814X14000166 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, M. (2014). Coalition structures and policy change in a consensus democracy. Policy Studies Journal, 42(3), 344–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, M., & Sciarini, P. (2015). Unpacking reputational power: Intended and unintended determinants of the assessment of actors’ power. Social Networks, 42, 60–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, M., Ingold, K., Sciarini, P., & Varone, F. (2012). Impacts of market liberalization on regulatory network: A longitudinal analysis of the swiss telecommunications sector. The Policy Studies Journal, 40, 435–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freeman, L. C. (1979). Centrality in social networks: Conceptual clarification. Social Networks, 1(3), 215–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gava, R., Varone, F., Mach, A., Eichenberger, S., Christen, J., & Chao-Blanco, C. (2016). Interests groups in Parliament: Exploring MPs’ interest af?liations (2000-2011). Swiss Political Science Review.Google Scholar
Goodreau, St ., Kitts, J., & Morris, M. (2009). Birds of a feather, or friend of a friend? Using exponential random graph models to investigate adolescent social networks. Demography, 46(1), 103–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gould, R. V. (2002). The origins of status hierarchies: A formal theory and empirical test. American Journal of Sociology, 107(5), 1143–1178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulati, R., & Srivastava, S. B. (2014). Bringing agency back into network research: Constrained agency and network action. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 40, 73–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hampton, K. N. (2011). Comparing bonding and bridging ties for democratic engagement. Information, Communication and Society, 14(4), 510–528. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2011.562219 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heaney, M. (2014.). Multiplex networks and interest group influence reputation: An exponential random graph model. Social Networks, 36, 66–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henning, Ch. (2009). Networks of power in the CAP system of the EU-15 and EU-27. Journal of Public Policy, 29(2), 153–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, A. (2011). Ideology, power, and the structure of policy networks. The Policy Studies Journal, 39, 361–383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, D., Handcock, M., Butts, C., Goodreau, St., & Morris, M. (2008). ergm: A package to fit, simulate and diagnose exponential-family models for networks. Journal of Statistical Software, 24(3), 1–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingold, K. (2008). Les Mécanismes de Décision: Le Cas de la Politique Climatique Suisse. Zürich: Politikanalysen, Rüegger Verlag.Google Scholar
Ingold, K. (2011). Network structures within policy processes: Coalitions, power, and brokerage in Swiss climate policy. Policy Studies Journal, 39(3), 435–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingold, K., & Leifeld, Ph. (2014). Structural and institutional determinants of influence reputation: A comparison of collaborative and adversarial policy networks in decision making and implementation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. doi: 10.1093/jopart/muu043 Google Scholar
Ingold, K., & Fischer, M. (2014). Drivers of collaboration to mitigate climate change: An illustration of Swiss climate policy over 15 years. Global Environmental Change, 24, 88–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingold, K., & Varone, F. (2012). Treating policy brokers seriously: Evidence from the climate policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22(2), 319–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenis, P., & Schneider, V. (1991). Policy networks and policy analysis: Scrutinizing a new analytical toolbox. In Marin, B. & Mayntz, R. (Eds.), Policy Networks: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Consideration (pp. 25–59). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Knill, C., & Tosun, J. (2012) Public policy: A new introduction, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoke, D. (1993). Networks of elite structure and decision making. Sociological Methods & Research, 22, 22–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoke, D., Pappi, F. U, Broadbent, J., & Tsujinaka, Y. (1996). Comparing Policy Networks: Labor Politics in the US, Germany, and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kriesi, H-P., & Jegen, M. (2001). The Swiss energy policy elite: The actor constellation of a policy domain in transition. European Journal of Political Research, 39, 251–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laumann, E. O., & Knoke, D. (1987). The Organizational State: Social Choice in National Policy Domains. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Laumann, E. O., Marsden, P. V., & Prensky, D. (1989) The boundary specification program in network analysis. In Freeman, L. C., Romney, A. K., & White, D. R. (Eds.), Research Methods in Social Network Analysis (pp. 61–88). Piscataway: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Lazega, E., Mounierm, L., Snijders, T., & Tubaro, P. (2012). Norms, status and the dynamics of advice networks: A case study. Social Networks, 34(3), 323–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leech, B., Baumgartner, F., Berry, J., Hojnacki, M., & Kimball, D. (2009). Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Leifeld, Ph. (2013). Reconceptualizing major policy change in the advocacy coalition framework. A discourse network analysis of german pension politics. Policy Studies Journal, 41(1), 169–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leifeld, Ph ., & Schneider, V. (2012). Information exchange in policy networks. American Journal of Political Science, 53(3), 731–744.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, A. (1999). Patterns of Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lester, J. P., & Goggin, M. L. (1998). Back to the future: The rediscovery of implementation studies. Policy Currents, 8(3), 1–8.Google Scholar
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 415–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, M., Handcock, M., & Hunter, D. (2008). Specification of exponential-family random graph models: Terms and computational aspects. Journal of Statistical Software, 24(4), 1–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muñoz-Erickson, T. A., Cutts, B., Larson, E., Darby, K., Neff, M., Wutich, A., & Bolin, B. (2010). Spanning boundaries in an Arizona watershed partnership: information networks as tools for entrenchment or ties for collaboration? Ecology and Society, 15(22), 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakamura, R. T. (1987). The textbook policy process and implementation research. Policy Studies Review, 7, 142–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nitze, P. H. (1990). America: An honest broker. Foreign Affairs, 69(4), 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nohrstedt, D. (2010). Do advocacy coalitions matter? Crisis and change in Swedish nuclear energy policy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 20(2), 309–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pappi, F. U., & Henning, Ch. (1998). Policy networks: More than a metaphor? Journal of Theoretical Politics, 10(4), 553–575.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, H. H., & Rethemeyer, R. K. (2014). The politics of connections: Assessing the determinants of social structure in policy networks. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(2), 349–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, G., Pattison, P., Kalish, Y., & Lusher, D. (2007). An introduction to exponential random graph (p*) models for social networks. Social Networks, 29, 173–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohrer, D. (2012). Erklärung eines Policy Changes: Die Rolle des Policy Netzwerks in der schweizerischen Klimapolitik. Master Thesis PMP, Universities of Lausanne, Berne and IDHEAP.Google Scholar
Sabatier, P. A., & Weible, Ch. (2007). The advocacy coalition framework: Innovations and clarifications. In Sabatier, P. A (Ed.), Theories of the Policy Process (pp. 189–220). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Sabatier, P. A., & Jenkins-Smith, H. (1993). Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Schaefer, D., Light, J., Fabes, R., Hanish, L., & Martin, C. (2010). Fundamental principles of network formation among preschool children. Social Networks, 32(1), 61–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sciarini, P., Fischer, A., & Nicolet, S. (2004). How Europe hits home. Journal of European Public Policy, 11(3), 353–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sciarini, P. (2014). Eppure si muove: the changing nature of the Swiss consensus democracy. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(1), 116–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sciarini, P., Fischer, M., & Traber, D. (Eds.). (2015). Political Decision-Making in Switzerland. The Consensus Model under Pressure. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Scott, J. (2000). Social Network Analysis: A Handbook. London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Scott, J., & Christopoulos, D. (2017). Reputational leadership and preference similarity: Explaining organisational collaboration in bank policy networks. European Journal of Political Research. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12237 Google Scholar
Shrestha, M. K. (2012). Self-organizing network capital and the success of collaborative public programs. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23(2), 307–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, J. M., Halgin, D., Kidwell-Lopez, V., Labianca, G., Brass, D., & Borgatti, S. P. (2014). Power in politically charged networks. Social Networks, 36, 162–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokman, F. N., & Zeggelink, E. P. H. (1996). Is politics power or policy oriented? A comparative analysis of dynamic access models in policy networks. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 21(1–2), 77–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutter, A. (2012). Schweizer Klimapolitik nach 2012. Master thesis. ETH Zürich.Google Scholar
Svensson, T., & Öberg, P. (2005). How are coordinated market economies coordinated? Evidence from Sweden. West European Politics, 28(5), 1075–1100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torenvlied, R., & Thomson, R. (2003). Is implementation distinct from political bargaining? Rationality and Society, 15(1), 64–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, W. (2001). Knowledge transfer in intraorganizational networks: Effects of network position and absorptive capacity on business unit innovation and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44(5), 996–1004.Google Scholar
Wasserman, St ., & Robins, G. (2005). An introduction to random graphs, dependence graphs, and p*. In Carrington, P. J., Scott, J., & Wasserman, S. (Eds.). Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University PressPlease provide page range “Wasserman & Robins, 2005”.Google Scholar
Wellman, B. (1988). Structural analysis: From method and metaphor to theory and substance. In Wellman, B. & Berkowitz, S. D. (Eds.), Social Structures: A Network Approach (pp. 19–61). New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wright, J. R. (1996). Interest Groups & Congress: Lobbying, Contributions, and Influence. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Zaheer, A., & McEvily, B. (1999). Bridging ties: A source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 20(12), 1133.Google Scholar