Network ties, institutional roles and advocacy tactics : Exploring explanations for perceptions of influence in climate change policy networks

WAGNER, Paul M., Petr OCELÍK, Antti GRONOW, Tuomas YLÄ-ANTTILA, Luisa SCHMIDT and Ana DELICADO. Network ties, institutional roles and advocacy tactics : Exploring explanations for perceptions of influence in climate change policy networks. Social Networks. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2023, vol. 75, October, p. 78-87. ISSN 0378-8733. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2021.11.008.

Basic information

• Original name: Network ties, institutional roles and advocacy tactics : Exploring explanations for perceptions of influence in climate change policy networks
• Authors: WAGNER, Paul M. (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Petr OCELÍK (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Antti GRONOW (246 Finland), Tuomas YLÄ-ANTTILA (246 Finland), Luisa SCHMIDT (620 Portugal) and Ana DELICADO (620 Portugal).
• Edition: Social Networks, Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2023, 0378-8733.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 50601 Political science
• Country of publisher: Netherlands
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 3.100 in 2022
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14230/23:00129932
• Organization unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2021.11.008
• UT WoS: 001164709200001
• Keywords in English: Climate change; Policy network; Interest groups; Network analysis; ERGM; Perceived Influence
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The extent to which a policy actor is perceived as being influential by others can shape their role in a policy process. The interest group literature has examined how the use of advocacy tactics, such as lobbying or media campaigns, contributes to an actor’s perceived influence. The policy networks literature, in turn, has found that network ties and occupying certain institutional roles can explain why actors are perceived as influential. When investigating what explains perceptions of influence, interest groups scholars have not accounted for network interdependencies and network scholars have so far not examined the advocacy tactics used by interest groups. This paper addresses the gap at the intersection of these two literatures by investigating the relationship between network ties, institutional roles, advocacy tactics and the presence of influence attribution ties in climate change policy networks. Exponential random graph models are applied to network data collected from the organisations participating in the national climate change policymaking processes in six EU countries that vary by the extent to which they are majoritarian or consensual democracies: Czechia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and Sweden. The results show that network ties and institutional roles are better predictors of influence attribution ties than advocacy tactics and that there is no pattern in the relationship between advocacy tactics and influence attribution ties across different institutional contexts. These findings suggest that because influence is primarily associated with structural factors (network ties and institutional roles) that more established policy actors are likely to have more influence, which may inhibit the need for a significant step change in climate policies.

Links

• MUNI/A/1138/2020, interní kód MU: Name: Perspektivy evropské integrace v kontextu globální politiky III

Investor: Masaryk University