Drivers of tie formation in the Canadian climate change policy network: Belief homophily and social structural processes

• Published in: Social networks 2023-10, Vol.75, p.107-117
• Main Authors: Howe, Adam C., Tindall, David B., Stoddart, Mark C.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advocacy Coalition Framework; Climate change; Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM); Policy networks
• ISSN: 0378-8733
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socnet.2021.06.004

•The Advocacy Coalition Framework focuses on beliefs external to policy networks.•Micro-structural network processes are also key drivers of informal policy networks.•We combine these approaches in an ERGM of a Canadian collaboration policy network.•Beliefs about carbon taxes, LNG and oil sands are related to tie formation.•Reciprocity, local connectivity and transitive closure are also related to tie formation. Extant research on policy networks tends to focus on explaining successes and/or failures of particular policy efforts. One commonly used theoretical framework – the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) – focuses on actor attributes external to policy networks. We argue this leads to an incomplete understanding of the social dynamics of climate change policy making. We incorporate a policy network analytic approach with the ACF in an ERGM of collaboration in a Canadian climate change policy network, showing the role micro-structural network processes play in giving rise to informal policy networks. We find certain policy beliefs are correlated with tie formation. We also find micro-structural network processes related to reciprocity, structural equivalence and transitive closure are correlated with tie formation. We argue combining these two prominent streams of policy network literature has potential to improve our understanding of climate change policy making processes.