Notes on networks, the state, and public policies

Abstract

This article briefly presents and analyzes the use of social network analysis as a method for studying public policies. Widely disseminated since the 1970s, network analysis allows the study of policies with simultaneous consideration for the various stakeholders that influence policymaking. The pluralistic matrix of the policy networks literature and the difference with the premises of relational sociology hinder the use of the approach for cases like Brazil, marked by the multiplicity of state and civil society actors with various types of links, especially informal ones. These specificities can be solved by linking the categories developed recently as the relational fabric for the state and governance, as long as properly integrated into the analysis. The resulting conceptual framework is a powerful tool for understanding the influence of relational patterns on the production of public policies.