Networks among Lawyers Active in National Policymaking
Author: John P. Heinz
This project examines patterns of contact among lawyers active in organizations spanning the full ideological range of American domestic politics. Network analysis techniques enable us to examine patterns of integration and cleavage, cooperation and conflict, influence and domination.
Are there distinct clusters within the network, so that some set of lawyers are separated from others? What is the relationship between positions in the network and the roles of the actors? Are some lawyers particularly influential, as brokers or leaders? If so, what are their attributes? Thus, the question is: Do some lawyers act as mediators or brokers, occupying the center of the network and serving to bridge left and right, or does the network have a hollow core, lacking actors who provide links between contending partisans?
The research also examines the structure of the left and the right. Are the two sides of the larger network both densely-connected, each possessing efficient channels of communication with adjacent interests, or is one side more diverse, characterized by dispersion and structural holes?
Effects of gender and race are of particular interest. Positional measures will be used to assess the extent to which an actor’s location within the network provides opportunities for playing a role as a broker or leader. Characteristics correlated with a higher degree of network connection may be context-specific.