<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Departing from Roberto Michels’s classic analysis of oligarchy, we provide a structural analysis of the concept based on social network analysis. We define oligarchy as a social network that exhibits three structural properties: tight interconnections among a small group of prominent actors who form an “inner circle”; the organization of other actors in the network through the intermediation of this inner circle; and weak direct connections among the actors outside the inner circle. We treat oligarchy as a global property of social networks and offer an approach for measuring the oligarchical tendencies of any social network. Our main contribution is to operationalize this idea using a “rich club” approach. We demonstrate the efficacy of this approach by analyzing and comparing several urban networks: Sao Paulo urban infrastructure networks and Los Angeles and Chicago transportation policy networks.</p>
</abstract>

Departing from Roberto Michels’s classic analysis of oligarchy, we provide a structural analysis of the concept based on social network analysis. We define oligarchy as a social network that exhibits three structural properties: tight interconnections among a small group of prominent actors who form an “inner circle”; the organization of other actors in the network through the intermediation of this inner circle; and weak direct connections among the actors outside the inner circle. We treat oligarchy as a global property of social networks and offer an approach for measuring the oligarchical tendencies of any social network. Our main contribution is to operationalize this idea using a “rich club” approach. We demonstrate the efficacy of this approach by analyzing and comparing several urban networks: Sao Paulo urban infrastructure networks and Los Angeles and Chicago transportation policy networks.

Who Says Networks, Says Oligarchy? Oligarchies as “Rich Club” Networks

Connections

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Who Says Networks, Says Oligarchy? Oligarchies as \u201cRich Club\u201d Networks"}

Departing from Roberto Michels’s classic analysis of oligarchy, we provide a structural analysis of the concept based on social network analysis. We define...

Who Says Networks, Says Oligarchy? Oligarchies as “Rich Club” Networks

Published Online: Mar 10, 2018

Page range: 20 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/connections-2016-020

Keywords
oligarchy, rich clubs, policy networks, urban networks

© 2016 Christopher Ansell et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Who Says Networks, Says Oligarchy? Oligarchies as “Rich Club” Networks

Published Online: Mar 10, 2018

Page range: 20 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21307/connections-2016-020

Keywordsoligarchy, rich clubs, policy networks, urban networks

© 2016 Christopher Ansell et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
oligarchy, rich clubs, policy networks, urban networks