Analysing conflict within actor networks using DANA

Dynamic Actor Network Analysis (DANA) is a software-supported method that aims to enhance an analyst’s capacity for reflection on a policy issue as a subjective social construct. The problem perceptions of actors in a policy network are represented as “perception graphs”: causal maps that show relations between goals, policy actions and external influences. Assuming rational choice, the DANA software can infer the preferred strategies of individual actors as well as those of cooperative groups. Confrontation of perceptions and strategies can reveal actor network relations such as resource dependency, conflict and coalition potential. In this paper we provide an outline of the method and position it relative to other (semi)quantitative methods, focussing in particular on the various metrics that DANA calculates to support analysis of conflict.