POL36190 Political Networks

Academic Year 2024/2025

Politics is all about power and personal connections.

How do politicians use their social network to build a power base? How do dictators use informal networks to sustain their position? How can citizens use their political connections to get things done? How do international terrorism networks evolve? How do opposition leaders mobilize others?

This module looks at what social networks can tell us about how politics works, both in democracies and in authoritarian regimes. We will look at different kinds of political networks, learn about the fundamental components and features of networks, and discuss some key concepts related to political and social networks.

Examples will be from both democratic and non-democratic political regimes, with a focus on political elites rather than citizens. This will include patronage networks, lobbying networks, corporate elites, terrorism networks, international policy networks, and so forth.

You will also learn about some basic social network analysis tools relevant to the study of political networks, especially involving network visualisation. No prior technical skills are expected or required.