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Abstract:
International relations research has regarded networks as a particular mode of organization, distinguished from markets or state hierarchies. In contrast, network analysis permits the investigation and measurement of network structures--emergent properties of persistent patterns of relations among agents that can define, enable, and constrain those agents. Network analysis offers both a toolkit for identifying and measuring the structural properties of networks and a set of theories, typically drawn from contexts outside international relations, that relate structures to outcomes. Network analysis challenges conventional views of power in international relations by defining network power in three different ways: access, brokerage, and exit options. Two issues are particularly important to international relations: the ability of actors to increase their power by enhancing and exploiting their network positions, and the fungibility of network power. The value of network analysis in international relations has been demonstrated in precise description of international networks, investigation of network effects on key international outcomes, testing of existing network theory in the context of international relations, and development of new sources of data. Partial or faulty incorporation of network analysis, however, risks trivial conclusions, unproven assertions, and measures without meaning. A three-part agenda is proposed for future application of network analysis to international relations: import the toolkit to deepen research on international networks; test existing network theories in the domain of international relations; and test international relations theories using the tools of network analysis.

networks, network analysis, international relations, centrality, structural equivalence, power

Abstract:
This article adopts a "Network as Structure" perspective to consider the rise and evolution of structural power inequalities in the international political economy; in it, we contrast inequalities in social power between states that result from relative possession of social capital due to density of ties through preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with inequalities in material power that result from relative possession of resources like guns and butter. We advance three aims in the pages to come: (1) to identify the type of social power created by the network of PTAs and distinguish it from standard concepts of material power in international relations-relative economic clout and military strength; (2) to generate empirical indicators to measure this concept that can be widely applied to the study of political economy; and (3) to trace the evolution of structural inequality in this type of social power between states over time.

social networks, trade, centrality, structural equivalence