Suppose a group of walkers is trying to gather, in a city, with little knowledge other than observables in their direct surroundings. They must achieve this objective while unable to communicate, nor to access the live map of the city. This situation is common in social movements, where protesters risk having their phone seized and adversary forces block streets.

We leverage the OpenStreetMap database to model a city as a weighted street network. Nodes represent intersections and links are sections of streets. Weights are observables such as the length, width, or any information labelling a street that a walker can estimate when standing at its corner.

We introduce BeWater, a new algorithm for gathering on weighted networks. Walkers follow a drop of water principle: they repeatedly take the street that maximizes a given observable, as a droplet would follow the steepest slope. The stopping condition is met when they reach a street that locally maximizes this observable.

We run an extensive set of agent-based simulations to identify what are the best observables for gathering with major cities, such as Paris, Hong Kong or Seattle. Finally, we propose a network decomposition procedure to explain a given observable efficiency. For each node we only keep the link a walker takes when using a given observable. We then build the catchment basins, which are the sub-networks within which all walkers end up in the same place. BeWater is effective when using an observable that creates a little number of large catchments basins.

Nationality homophily—a persistent challenge in international social networks—limits individuals’ access to diverse information and perspectives. While prior studies have focused on how immediate structural factors influence homophily, they overlook the potential long-term impact of structural restrictions. From a socioecological perspective, we propose that a country's ethnic diversity influences the structural opportunities available for cross-cultural interactions among its residents during their developmental stage. These opportunities, in turn, shape individuals' future willingness and ability to form cross-national connections in international contexts. We test this hypothesis using data on the communication network during an international hackathon event, applying the Multiple Regression Quadradic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP). We find that nationality homophily persists even in an environment designed to minimize structural constraints. Notably, participants from ethnically diverse countries exhibit significantly lower nationality homophily. Additionally, prior experience of living abroad also reduces nationality homophily during the hackathon. We contribute to the literature by introducing the socioecological perspective to demonstrate how structural factors can shape homophily over time. Practically, this study offers insights for organizations and policymakers seeking to foster inclusivity and diversity in global collaborations.

Social movements have been conceptualized in two main ways: as “sustained interactions between challengers and powerholders” (Tilly), which also imply sustained interactions between challengers; and as a particular mode of coordination, connecting civil society organizations to each other through multiplex ties, in the context of broader collective action fields (Diani). Both perspectives assign a key role to network concepts and imageries. In this paper I explore various approaches to the operationalization of these concepts. I systematically compare the formal properties of the networks that emerge from different definitions, as well as the corresponding homophily mechanisms. To this purpose I draw upon data from earlier projects, in particular, my study of UK civic networks in the early 2000s.

This project unearths realistic explanations for transnational environmental problems. It critically assesses the role of collective advocacy in Indian environmental movements by identifying the opportunities and challenges that lie therein. It questions the manner in which states use regressive forms of regulation to curb foreign funding and how northern powers influence the interests of the south. Deploying a postcolonial lens, it explores India’s postcolonial anxieties about neo-colonial forms of control and expansion as it regards transnational activism with 'anti-nationalism' and 'neocolonialism'. But it also unravels India’s use of the very same oppressive posture to carry out its capitalist agenda by heavily encouraging foreign investments in the state. On the other hand, the research investigates the growing challenge of transnational coalitions covertly ascribing to western-liberal, Eurocentric ideals that, in turn, seize the democratic freedoms and domestic particularisms of local activists. Why do foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) hijack local movements? What does the past and present of Indian environmentalism say about its future? And, what lessons do South-South transnational alliances such as SIGTUR and Via Cempesina offer to effectually reform transnationalism in the global South. The qualitative research used in the study is drawn from primary and secondary sources such as interviews, historical documents and archival material that tease out the role of state and non-state actors in critical IR theory. It uses an eclectic approach to present the case for a subaltern transnational framework using local knowledge systems to improve strategies for collective activism and environmental standards in the global South.

How do different dimensions of political work interact to constitute a set of intended and unintended responses to state-level repression, shaping the network structure, processes and relationships in an activist collective? I conduct in-depth interviews with 41 members of a grassroots, direct-action collective. Combined with field notes from observations over two months, this data provides rich insights into the complex emerging dynamics, changes in structure and processes, as well as their personal and collective sense-making. Given the sensitive nature of the group's activities, data collection is tied to the promise of complete confidentiality. This entailed exclusively offline analysis by one researcher only. This presentation outlines a local, open source implementation of the analysis from pre-processing to presentation of results. Local LLM implementations are used in all steps to augment the capacities and capabilities of the researcher. The framework for analysis includes the development and integration of contextual knowledge about the specific situation and timeline to improve the LLM's zero-shot learning. It uses the LLM in an auditable way through systematizing prompts and implementing chain-of-thought reasoning.

Preliminary results show complex adaptation patterns on a network level constituted by rather simple individual and relational considerations. Individuals' opinions in a collective decision process are shaped by their and other members' a) well-being, and b) satisfaction with tasks within and strategy of the collective. Rules for decision-making and patterns of decision impact derived from the data, can provide a basis for modeling adaptation processes to repression on the network under different conditions.