Social (-ecological) network analysis in environmental governance: central publications, important concepts, and areas of application

Abstract

Social and social-ecological network analysis (S(E)NA) have recently emerged as new methods in the environmental governance (EG) literature. By investigating networks of connections between actors, S(E)NA advances the understanding of who is involved in EG and how. We provide an overview of the EG literature applying S(E)NA and map (1) the citation network emerging from cross-references and (2) the similarity network emerging from word similarities between publications. We show that S(E)NA application in EG is in the process of developing into a field of research where publications frequently cite each other. We identify 20 publications which occupy positions as sources, storers, or bridges of knowledge in the citation network. While we see S(E)NA applied in diverse resource contexts, these are mainly discussed on the local spatial level, with a focus on “policy” or “collaboration.” We discover that “power structures” and “the production of knowledge” are themes influencing the whole field.