Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University. Lecture. Basic ideas of SNA and our analysis of collaboration/cosponsorship among MPs.

1. SNA and legislative behavior
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik1 Dmytro Ostapchuk2
1University of Carlos III
(tbrik@clio.uc3m.es)
2DataVox and BRDO
September 13, 2017
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 1 / 40

2. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 2 / 40

3. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
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4. From graphs to social networks
SNA and Social Science
Network analysis ... consists of the application of graph theory to the
study of relations among a set of items, whether animate (human,
apes, etc) or inanimate (countries, organizations, words, blogs, etc.)
[1, p. 5].
Social networks are the empirical phenomena of interconnected
patterns of relations among living organisms, and social network
analysis is the application of network analysis to the study of those
patterns. [1, p.5]
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 4 / 40

5. From graphs to social networks
Theoretical inspirations
Positivism(s) vs critical theory and constructivism
Structure vs agency
Social capital
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6. From graphs to social networks
How it looks
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7. From graphs to social networks
How it looks
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8. From graphs to social networks
How it looks
(c) kateto.net
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9. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 9 / 40

10. Network Vocabulary
Networks and Graphs
Figure: (c) Network Science by Barabasi
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11. Network Vocabulary
Matrixes and Graphs
Figure: (c) Network Science by Barabasi
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12. Network Vocabulary
Degree
Figure: (c) Volker and van Tubergen. Teaching materials. SASR
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13. Network Vocabulary
Degree
Figure: (c) Volker and van Tubergen. Teaching materials. SASR
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 13 / 40

14. Network Vocabulary
Degree
Figure: (c) Network Science by Barabasi
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 14 / 40

15. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 15 / 40

16. Influence and homophily
Definition of homophily
Birds of a feather flock together. WIKI: ”that people who are similar
to each other or share similar interests tend to spend time with each
other”.
SNA language: ties occur at a higher rate than among dissimilar
people. Lazarsfel and Merto (1954). ”Friendship as a social process:a
substantive and methodological analysis”. They spoke of status and
value homophily.
Race and ethnicity (for the US), sex and gender, age, religion,
education and occupation, attitudes and behavior.
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 16 / 40

17. Influence and homophily
Consequences of homophily
Is the use of contacts is endogenous to the level of social capital?
(Mouw, 2001). Simple words: having contacts != using contacts.
Do people influence each other (contagious behaviour, mobilization,
finding a job) or simply have similar traits?.
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 17 / 40

18. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 18 / 40

19. Legislative behaviour
The legislative process is a complicated beast (Woon, 2008).
Any decision that is made in the parliament is built as a mosaic.
Everyday it is possible to have two or three different mosaics (Novoe
Vremya, 2016).
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20. Legislative behaviour
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk et al., VoxUkrain
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21. Legislative behaviour
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk et al., VoxUkrain
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22. Legislative behaviour
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk et al., VoxUkrain
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23. Legislative behaviour
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk et al., VoxUkraine
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24. What is co-sponsorship?
signal to voters
device to match the positions popular in constituencies
signal to the fellow legislators and/or potential partners in a coalition
device to communicate ideological preferences, or a device to
establish and promote an agenda
spatial models (Poole and Rosenthal, 1985): legislators choose the
best outcome by voting for the bill that is closest to their ideal
preference
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 24 / 40

25. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 25 / 40

26. New literature
new scholarship has recognized the importance of codependence,
relationships, and mutual interests in legislative action (Fowler, 2006)
legislative process is but one of the many examples of collaboration
which is based on social ties and social networks
Collaboration networks have been observed in various domains of
human activity including business, science, public administration, and
organized crime
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 26 / 40

27. Outline of the lecture
1 What is SNA
From graphs to social networks
Network Vocabulary
Influence and homophily
2 Legislative behaviour
Classic political thought and spatial models
SNA and co-sponsoring
New evidence from Ukraine
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 27 / 40

28. New evidence from Ukraine
Problem 1. Respect, trust, friendship, cosponsorship and other
examples of social ties have been studied extensively in order to
characterize the social relationship between legislators. However, little
is known about tie formation
Problem 2. Studies of cosponsorship in legislatures other than the
U.S. Congress are virtually nonexistent (Alenman et al., 2009)
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29. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
http://data.voxukraine.org
Roll Call Votes (4 session of VIII convocation)
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30. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: (c) DataVox
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31. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: (c) DataVox
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32. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: Imaginary Data
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33. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: Imaginary Data
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34. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: Imaginary Data
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35. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk
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36. New evidence from Ukraine
QAP correlations for matrixes (co-writing)
OLS regression for index of collaboration (co-voting)
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 36 / 40

37. New evidence from Ukraine
DATA
Figure: (c) Ostapchuk
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38. New evidence from Ukraine
RESULTS
Homophily is not important for co-authoring, but homophily is
important for co-voting.
Co-voting behavior depends on similarities in (1) being in the same
coalition; (2) being in the same faction; (3) being in any informal
group (general activity); (4) electoral system; (5) having similar
occupation in the past; (6) similar experience; (7) being of the same
sex; (8) having a Facebook profile; (9) seating close to each other.
Tymofii Brik, Dmytro Ostapchuk SNA and legislative behavior September 13, 2017 38 / 40

39. For Further Reading I
Elisa Bellotti
Qualitative Networks: Mixed Methods in Sociological Research.
Routledge, 2014.
Novoe Vremya.
Vershyna Verkhovnoy Rady.
3 June (36), 2016.
Alemn, E., Calvo, E., Jones, M. P., Kaplan, N
Comparing Cosponsorship and RollCall Ideal Points.
Legislative Studies Quarterly, 34(1), 87-116.
Fowler, J.H.
Legislative cosponsorship networks in the US House and Senate.
Social Networks, 28(4), 454-465.
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40. For Further Reading II
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., Cook, J. M.
Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks.
Annual review of sociology, 27(1), 415-444, 2001.
Mouw, T.
Social capital and finding a job: do contacts matter?.
American sociological review, 868-898, 2003.
Woon, J.
Bill sponsorship in Congress: the moderating effect of agenda
positions on legislative proposals.
The Journal of Politics, 70(01), 201-216.
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