The Network of Institutional Actors in the Development of a Small Town

• Published in: Sociologický časopis Vol. 46; no. 2; pp. 281 - 300
• Main Authors: Vajdová, Zdenka, Bernard, Josef, Stachová, Jana, Čermák, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Czech; English
• Published: 01-01-2010
• Subjects: Czech Republic; Decision Making; Institutions; Local government; Networks; Public Administration; Social Networks; Towns
• ISSN: 0038-0288; 2336-128X
• DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2010.46.2.05

The aim of the article is to describe the relations between institutions in the public, private & non-profit sectors that are considered the most important actors of negotiation & decision-making in local development. These institutions & the relations between them are defined as a social network. A study was carried out in the small Czech towns of Blatna, Cesky Krumlov & Velke Mezirici, & data were collected in 2007 & 2008. The first part of the article describes the institutional actors, the collection of the relational data, & the context of the three towns that were studied. The analytical part consists of social network analysis. Basic quantitative characteristics are used to describe & compare the social networks of the institutional actors in the local development of the three towns. The conclusions indicate the unconditional significance of local public administration institutions & the significance of other local institutions; relations to extra-local institutions are rather weak. A section on methodology at the end of the article contains methodological notes on Hellinger divergence & SNA. Adapted from the source document.