Tuomas Ylä-Anttila et al. (2025), Edward Elgar

Climate policy is shaped by networks of organizations and their representatives interacting across multiple arenas of political contestation. The chapter reviews what network research has revealed about these interactions, focusing on the formation of ties, advocacy coalitions, political influence, and policy learning. It considers both direct relationships among policy actors, such as collaboration and information exchange, and their interactions through professional and legacy media and, increasingly, social media.

The chapter also points toward a more integrated understanding of climate politics in which these different arenas are studied together rather than as separate networks. In particular, it highlights multilayer network analysis as a promising direction for examining how policy networks interact with media discourse and social media networks. This approach can help explain how relationships among organizations, information flows, and public communication jointly structure political contestation over climate policy.