Social network analysis and public policy: what’s new?

As a mature paradigm of network analysis, social network analysis (SNA) is suitable for exploring complicated and interactive relationships in policy research and is of great significance to the innovation and development of public policy research. In this paper, 45 typical articles published in high-ranking journals in the field of public administration were analysed using co-word analysis and qualitative analysis. The application of SNA in public policy studies, including research methods, analytic tools, and basic concepts of network analysis, were systematically reviewed. UCINET software was used to visualize the knowledge network of research topics. The main research topics were classified into five categories: agenda setting, policy network, advocacy coalition, policy learning and diffusion, policy implementation. Finally, this article suggests that network analysis in public administration should be thoroughly re-examined; in particular, scholars should consider the benefits of SNA for public policy research. In the application of SNA to public policy research, it is necessary to broaden the study perspective and scope, further strengthen interdisciplinary theoretical interaction and theoretical innovation, and take advantage of big data and other new technological tools that can develop giant network analysis for public policy.