issue networks of the american left

The US Social Forum is an upcoming political convention in Detroit and it’s shaping up to be a huge event. My research partner, Michael Heaney, and I will be there to conduct research on the antiwar movement and its connection to other policy issues. Michael asked me to post this diagram that he made, even though I’m on blogcation. It maps out policy issues according to panel co-mentions. In other words, we looked at all panels in the US Social Forum program and coded the broad policy issues addressed by the panel. Two topics are connected if at least one panel mentions both of them. Thicker lines means more co-mentions. Our issue – the antiwar domain – fairly central, but not as prominent as other topics like racism or immigration.