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Building Sport Countries' Overseas Identity and Reputation: A Case Study of Public Paradiplomacy

Xifra, J. — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:34:48 PDT

The aim of this article is to analyze public diplomacy efforts of noncentral governments through sport. The object of the study is Catalonia, a Spanish autonomous region with its own government but without power over national foreign affairs. Public diplomacy links up with relationship building between governments of nation-states and other nation-states and its citizens. However, noncentral governments, as Catalonia, and other organizations with powerful national identity symbols, such as sports organizations, also develop public relations activities to build an international reputation of regions. In the field of sports, some of these territories were given the name of sport countries in the 2003 Barcelona Conference. This article concludes by considering the notion of soft power as coined by Nye to frame the role of sports diplomacy efforts of regional actors.

A Baseline Dynamic Model for Ego Networks

McPherson, M. — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:42:22 PDT

This article develops a minimal dynamic model for the acquisition and loss of network contacts in ego networks. The model shows a simple relationship between the rate at which contacts are gained, the rate of loss, and the number of contacts observed in cross-section. The model produces a novel interpretation for the characteristics of tie strength in ego networks. Some conclusions based on the analysis of the model are (a) any theory of ego networks must have a model of both the creation and destruction of ties, (b) the dynamics of tie strength are underspecified at present, (c) current methods of gathering data on ego networks provide virtually no information on weak ties, and (d) specifying the absence of ties is both more important and more problematic than previously recognized. The article concludes with some applications of the model of relevance to work on social capital.