Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Providing a comprehensive overview of the key fields in political network research, Volker Schneider demonstrates that relational structures play a crucial role in many areas and levels of politics and policymaking as interaction, communications, or dependency relations. Schneider expertly guides the reader from the basic concepts through to advanced methods, using empirical analysis of local, national and global case studies. Key Features: Covers multiple levels from local politics to global governance networks Explores the development of political thought traced through network relations Illustrates a variety of network forms and exemplary applications using advanced methods in network visualisations The analytical range covered from theory to more complex statistical methods in this Advanced Introduction provides an excellent resource for scholars in political science, public administration, political sociology and communication studies.