ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces methods for reimagining international political sociology through social spaces of power, alliances and positions. It discusses the issues of data collection and visualization before ending with some critical reflections. Network analyses based on, for example, military alliances, diplomatic connections and co-membership in intergovernmental organizations construct much more state-centric social spaces than those based on professionals and practices. A central feature of social network analysis (SNA) and multiple correspondence analysis lies in their potential to map the power structure of a social space – globally, organizationally and in terms of individual power positions. SNA triggers questions about how power is exercised by mobilizing relations in social space. One set of questions relates to how the overall structure of a network facilitates certain techniques for exercising power. Social action does not necessarily emerge from cohesion or lack thereof, but sometimes from particular social roles within a system.
