The formation of political discussion networks
Dialogues among politicians provide a window into political landscapes and relations among parties and nations. Existing research has focused on the outcomes of such dialogues and on the structure of social networks on which they take place. Little is known, however, about how political discussion n...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2022-01-01
|
Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211609 |
_version_ | 1797837667617996800 |
---|---|
author | Marian-Gabriel Hâncean Matjaž Perc Adrian Gheorghiță George G. Vega Yon Bianca-Elena Mihăilă |
author_facet | Marian-Gabriel Hâncean Matjaž Perc Adrian Gheorghiță George G. Vega Yon Bianca-Elena Mihăilă |
author_sort | Marian-Gabriel Hâncean |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Dialogues among politicians provide a window into political landscapes and relations among parties and nations. Existing research has focused on the outcomes of such dialogues and on the structure of social networks on which they take place. Little is known, however, about how political discussion networks form and which are the main driving forces behind their formation. We study a collection of ego-networks from 30 randomly sampled Romanian politicians to reveal fundamental processes behind the formation of political discussion networks. We show that ties in such networks tend to be strong and balanced, and that their organization is not affected by sex, age or education homophily. We use the exponential family of random graph models for small networks to assess likely closure mechanisms and possible homophily effects, but we note that further research and additional data are needed to fully understand the impact of context and political affiliations on the generalization of our findings. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:28:21Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-c6d8cee48ecb4007a978dbaa0aff6c8b |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2054-5703 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:28:21Z |
publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
publisher | The Royal Society |
record_format | Article |
series | Royal Society Open Science |
spelling | doaj.art-c6d8cee48ecb4007a978dbaa0aff6c8b2023-04-28T11:04:05ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032022-01-019110.1098/rsos.211609The formation of political discussion networksMarian-Gabriel Hâncean0Matjaž Perc1Adrian Gheorghiță2George G. Vega Yon3Bianca-Elena Mihăilă4Department of Sociology, University of Bucharest, 90-92 Panduri St., Bucharest 050663, RomaniaFaculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, SloveniaDepartment of Political Science, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, 30 Expoziției Blvd., Bucharest 012244, RomaniaDivision of Epidemiology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah, 295 Chipeta Way Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USADepartment of Sociology, University of Bucharest, 90-92 Panduri St., Bucharest 050663, RomaniaDialogues among politicians provide a window into political landscapes and relations among parties and nations. Existing research has focused on the outcomes of such dialogues and on the structure of social networks on which they take place. Little is known, however, about how political discussion networks form and which are the main driving forces behind their formation. We study a collection of ego-networks from 30 randomly sampled Romanian politicians to reveal fundamental processes behind the formation of political discussion networks. We show that ties in such networks tend to be strong and balanced, and that their organization is not affected by sex, age or education homophily. We use the exponential family of random graph models for small networks to assess likely closure mechanisms and possible homophily effects, but we note that further research and additional data are needed to fully understand the impact of context and political affiliations on the generalization of our findings.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211609political discussion networkshomophilyexponential random graph models for small networksergmito |
spellingShingle | Marian-Gabriel Hâncean Matjaž Perc Adrian Gheorghiță George G. Vega Yon Bianca-Elena Mihăilă The formation of political discussion networks Royal Society Open Science political discussion networks homophily exponential random graph models for small networks ergmito |
title | The formation of political discussion networks |
title_full | The formation of political discussion networks |
title_fullStr | The formation of political discussion networks |
title_full_unstemmed | The formation of political discussion networks |
title_short | The formation of political discussion networks |
title_sort | formation of political discussion networks |
topic | political discussion networks homophily exponential random graph models for small networks ergmito |
url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211609 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT mariangabrielhancean theformationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT matjazperc theformationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT adriangheorghita theformationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT georgegvegayon theformationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT biancaelenamihaila theformationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT mariangabrielhancean formationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT matjazperc formationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT adriangheorghita formationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT georgegvegayon formationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks AT biancaelenamihaila formationofpoliticaldiscussionnetworks |