Policy Network Analysis

Policy network analysis examines policymaking as the product of relationships among interdependent actors — government agencies, interest groups, experts and others — who exchange resources such as information, money, legitimacy and authority. In the influential British tradition associated with R. A. W. Rhodes and David Marsh, policy networks range along a continuum from tightly knit, exclusive 'policy communities' to loose, open 'issue networks', and the type of network is held to shape policy outcomes. More broadly, the approach applies the concepts and tools of social-network analysis to governance, treating the structure of ties among actors as a key explanatory variable.