Policy Networks In Comparative Politics And International Relations

In this paper, I review existing approaches to network analysis in comparative politics and International Relations (IR). I argue that the theoretical and empirical exploration of global policy networks in IR today can benefit from systematically taking into account the literature that has emerged in comparative politics in the 1980s and 1990s. To show the relationship between both fields, I compare three aspects in research linked to networks, namely the analytical perspectives from which networks are examined, network typologies, and the functions of networks. Finally, I outline three areas that are likely to enrich future IR research on networks: interest representation in networks, typologies of global policy networks and the methodology linked to their inquiry