Belief Systems and Social Capital as Drivers of Policy Network Structure: The Case of California Regional Planning

TLDR

The advocacy coalition framework posits that actors sharing policy beliefs tend to form coalitions, fragmenting policy subsystems into ideological groups, while social capital—trust and reciprocity norms—helps cement cooperative relationships. The study uses exponential random graph models to examine how policy‑relevant beliefs and social capital drive network structure. The authors test hypotheses with survey data from policy elites in land‑use and transportation planning across four California regions. Results indicate that actors sharing belief systems are linked by policy brokers who build transitive social relationships.

Abstract

This article uses exponential random graph models to investigate the roles of policy-relevant beliefs and social capital as drivers of network structure. The advocacy coalition framework argues that actors with similar policy beliefs are more likely to form coalitions, leading to policy subsystems fragmented into ideological groups. Social capital is defined as trust and norms of reciprocity, which helps cement cooperative relationships. Hypotheses are tested using survey data of policy elites involved in land-use and transportation planning in four regions of California. The findings suggest that coalitions of actors with similar belief systems are knit together by policy brokers seeking to build transitive social relationships.