Belief Systems and Social Capital as Drivers of Policy Network Structure: The Case of California Regional Planning.

The article examines the roles of policy-relevant beliefs and social capital as drivers of network structure with reference to regional planning in California. The theories of social capital focus on how cooperation is supported by norms of reciprocity and civic engagement. Testing the importance of network configurations needs statistical techniques, which take into account the interdependent nature of network relationships. Belief stability and policy relevance have an interactive effect on policy network structure.