Intellectual Cooperation: multi-level network analysis of an international organization

This paper presents an analysis of the work and functioning of the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) between 1919 and 1927 by setting up a database containing metadata of thousands of documents contained in the ICIC funds (UN Archives, Geneva)1. Visualized as a network of nearly 1700 people (tens of thousands of relationships), this archive gives us a new understanding of the internal organization of the Intellectual Cooperation under the League of Nations, as well as interesting insights about its relations with the rest of the scientific and diplomatic world. In particular, it is necessary to compare the “micro” structure of relationships as mapped by the archive with the “macro” formal structure of the institution: does the thousands of documents confirm the internal organization of the League of Nations or does they show us individuals that bypass the official hierarchy?

Source: www.martingrandjean.ch