Download - Ondrej Cisar and Jiri Navratil Institute for Comparative Political Research Masaryk University
It’s Transactions, Stupid! Networks of Czech Social Movement Organizations Twenty Years after CommunismOndrej Cisar and Jiri Navratil
Institute for Comparative Political Research
Masaryk University
Specific Research Goals/Questions1. How do the networks of Czech SMOs look
like? Are there differences between the distribution of particular network properties in the case of post-materialistically-oriented ‘new’ SMOs and the ‘old’ type of participatory activism?
2. What accounts for the observed variation in network properties?
Two Modes of Activism
Participatory activism - its strength and legitimacy depends on its ability to mobilize a significant number of followers, who also supply it with necessary resources (trade unions…).
Transactional activism - its strength depends on its (transactional) capacity to link up with other organizations, and integrate them into broader platforms (environmentalists, human rights…).
Expectations
Descriptive part
Two different network structures – a dense networking of transactional activists and a less dense networking of participatory activists
Explanatory part
The bigger the exposure to international assistance programs, the bigger the capacity on the part of a local organization to assume a central position within inter-organizational networks.
Data: Czech SMOs Survey
- sectors: environmental, women’s rights, gay and lesbian, civil rights, developmental, agrarian, social services, radical Left groups, and trade unions
- snow-ball sampling (some sectors supplemented by expert knowledge), 70 % response rate, N=220
- key informant face-to-face interviewing using a standardized questionnaire, October 2007 – December 2009
Operationalization
Two dimensions of horizontal transactional capacity: „real“ (sharing resources) and „nominal“ (potential facilitation of information flow)
Real ties – existing relations of cooperation among SMOs – all-degree centrality measure
Nominal ties – position of actor within the whole network – betweenness centrality measure
Network(s) of Czech SMOs I.
Weak components of the network (energy layout, Kamada-Kawai, separate components, adjusted)
Network(s) of Czech SMOs II.
Distribution of the all-degree centrality within the network - main issue area (energy layout, Fruchterman Reingold)
Network(s) of Czech SMOs III.
Distribution of the all-degree centrality within the network – internally mobilized resources (energy layout, Fruchterman Reingold)
Network(s) of Czech SMOs IV.
Extraction of the strong network components – the main issue area (energy layout, Fruchterman Reingold, adjusted)
Network(s) of Czech SMOs V.
Extraction of the strong network components – internally mobilized resources (energy layout, Fruchterman Reingold, adjusted)
Explanatory model
Questions
Operationalization Explanation model improvement Structure of argument