Evaluating Youth Policy Reform in Kyrgyzstan Using Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Youth organizations were important actors in color revolutions demanding more rights from incumbent governments in former Soviet societies. Kyrgyzstan is an example where numerous attempts to overthrow various governments took place. Since the youth is generally unemployed, underqualified, undereducated because of drastic implementation of free market policies immediately after the unexpected and unforeseen collapse of the Iron Curtain, they were the most vulnerable demographic for exploitation by extremist groups and criminal organizations. The study employed theories of complex adaptive systems and social network analysis concepts and tools in order to evaluate the actors, relations, interventions and policy results during and after mass mobilizations leading to political change.

A scoping review on the current and potential use of social network analysis for evaluation purposes

“…It is unsurprising, then, that the challenges encountered in determining causal relationships between network structure and valued external network outcomes are a recurring theme in the articles included in this review (e.g. Barman-Adhikari and Rice, 2014; Engelberg, 1980; Honeycutt, 2009; Honeycutt and Strong, 2012; Leavy, 2015; Provan et al, 2010; Urrea et al, 2016; Yuldashev and Sahin, 2015).…”