When position is power: entrepreneurs, networks and international politics.

Political entrepreneurs reside at the core of constructivist theory. Structures might constrain agents, but entrepreneurs can remake and transform these structures, contesting norms, shifting identities and creating space for significant political change. Despite this, constructivists themselves note that key questions about entrepreneurs remain under-theorized. Under what conditions are political entrepreneurs likely to emerge? Who is likely to succeed as an entrepreneur, and how do entrepreneurs produce structural change? I argue constructivists could strengthen their answers to these questions by drawing from the growing program of social network theory. Using network analysis, constructivists can identify whether or not a political system is stable, or if conditions are ripe for entrepreneurs to emerge in international politics. Similarly, network position endows certain actors with resources, ideas and flexibility unavailable to others, and thus more power to effect change. Finally, network theory posits three structural mechanisms—mobilization, polarization, and yoking - to explain political change. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]