What I think about...
I am fascinated by social network based analysis and believe that this is the most dynamic way of viewing the world and the actors in it. We are all embedded in a network and it shapes the opportunities available to us and choices we make.
Online social networks like Facebook and Twitter have made headlines recently as a powerful tool for the Middle East and North Africa protesters. Protest and revolution are still born of the same decision-making process, but social networks have allowed protestors to
connect and see atrocities in a way that was not possible before social media. These online social networks have been analyzed as a type of social capital, but only recently have they revealed their immense value for political dissent. This paper is an attempt to combine complementary elements of sociological and economic traditions in order to analyze social online networks as productive social capital and the implications for how we model revolution.
Research
Political entrepreneurs pursue favorable positions within a network and in the process they also transform the structure of the network. Political entrepreneurs find, create, and exploit structural holes between different groups and actors. There are clear parallels regarding structural holes and market-based entrepreneurship, but the extension to political entrepreneurship requires a more careful consideration of what motivates the political entrepreneur and how gains are to be captured within the public arena. When comparing market and political entrepreneurship, it will be necessary to also consider the different arenas in which these forces take place. In this way, local governments can be conceptualized as municipal corporations. Alternative institutional frameworks and their effects will be explored. The strategies of political entrepreneurs should notably change dependent on the scale of the municipal network and new types of network structures will be preferred. For instance, larger municipalities may imply more structural holes and the reduction of individuals to interest groups.
The literature on optimal municipal size suggests that municipal governments will need to undergo boundary changes in order to maintain the correct population size and provide government services efficiently. However, the process of implementing these boundary changes may be plagued by uncertainty about legal standing and procedures that vary from state to state. The complex ecology of public and private enterprises further complicates how these boundary changes will be carried out. My contribution is to consider the processes of redistricting and annexation at the municipal level from the perspective of fiscal sociology and social network theory. I model the decision-making process of political entrepreneurs when choosing whether to advocate or oppose municipal boundary changes. In order to secure support, political entrepreneurs will find, create, and exploit structural holes within the political and social network. Societal connectedness between groups makes annexation more likely, but can also make attempts to unincorporate more likely given the lack of closure between different social networks within the municipalities. The political entrepreneur’s strategies will change with the scale of the municipality. As the municipality grows, they will form alliances, focus on nested interest groups, and operate under more formal procedures and rules.
Revolution and Social Media
Political Entrepreneurship
Municipal Boundaries
