Inner Circles or Hollow Cores? Elite Networks in National Policy Systems

Abstract

Much of the literature on American national policy-making suggests that an important role is played by an "inner circle" of elite representatives of private interests. Using data drawn from interviews with a large sample of Washington lawyers and other representatives of private interests active in four broad policy areas (agriculture, energy, health, and labor), the authors describe the structure of relationships between a random sample of the representatives and a selected set of highly prominent or "notable" representatives. Analyses are performed individually on the four policy areas and on the overall sample. The findings indicate that the network structures do not have central cores--i.e., the structures of interest group interrelationships lack authoritative private mediators.