Introduction
Policy and management networks are widely used around the world at both the national and international levels. These networks are conceptualized, perceived, and studied in different ways around the globe. Major examples of applications of networks in other countries are the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), and International Space Station (ISS). This concept paper will increase understanding of policy networks from a global perspective and offer specific examples.
Conceptualization of Policy Networks
Global public policy networks originated from the two forces of liberalization and technological revolution (Reinicke, Deng, et al.). Economic liberalization refers to the opening of markets, and political liberalization refers to greater democracy. Technological revolution, particularly in information technology, leads to more complexity in social, cultural, and economic relations. These two forces cause operational and participatory governance gaps. Operational gaps refer to a lack of information, technology, and tools. Participatory gaps refer to the exclusion of the public or particular stakeholders from policymaker deliberations (Reinicke, Deng, et al.). Global public policy networks aim to close these gaps by complementing public policy institutions through certain activities, such as placing new issues on the global agenda, acting as a facilitator in the negotiation of global standards, gathering and disseminating knowledge, creating new markets and deepening existing markets, and employing innovative mechanisms for traditional intergovernmental treaties (Reinicke, Deng, et al., Year, Page).
The emergence of global policy networks was part of the public sector refo...
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Social Network theory dates back to the 1950’s where Barnes (1954) is credited with coining the term. Social Network Theory is the study of how the social structure around a person, group, or organization affect beliefs or behaviors (Dunn, 1983) The theory views relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes can be defined as individual actors within networks, while ties are the relationships between the actors. (Dunn, 1983). These nodes and ties are often displayed in a diagram which shows the connection between them. Unlike traditional sociological studies, Social Network Theory does not assume that it is the attributes of individual actors, but rather the attributes of the individual are less important, but rather the relationships and ties with other actors within the network is what is important.