Megan Osterbur, Ph.D.

Mosterbur@nec.edu

New England College

Phone: 5042328644

Address: New England College, 98 Bridge st.

City: Henniker, New Hampshire - 03242

Country: United States

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About Me:

Megan Osterbur is a Visiting Assistant Professor at New England College (MOsterbur@nec.edu). She earned her Ph.D in political science at the University of New Orleans. Her research focuses on LGBTQ social movements, political networks, and transnational advocacy.
 

Research Interests

LGBTQIA Politics

Networks And Politics

Gender and Politics

NGOs

Publications:

Journal Articles:

(2017) A hegemon fighting for equal rights: the dominant role of COC Nederland in the LGBT transnational advocacy network, Global Networks

Networks are alternatives to hierarchical organizational forms. However, actors in networks have different resources at their disposal, and more powerful participants will try to influence the network as a whole. We identify a dominant node in the European LGBT advocacy network, and explore whether a hegemonic actor in the transnational advocacy network will affect less powerful groups' issue framing. Our project uses software that locates the issue network on the internet, highlighting how transnational advocacy work and digital communication have become inextricably connected. We confirm that Cultuur – en Ontspannings Centrum, known as COC Netherland has higher‐than average centrality measures in the LGBT network. Noting the limitations of hyperlink analysis, we conduct a content analysis of select nodes illustrating the impact of a hegemon. We focus on marriage equality and find tentative support for our hypothesis: organizations with links to COC advocate for stronger forms of legalized same‐sex union than do organizations without ties.

Book Chapters:

(2017) Pink Links: Visualizing the Global LGBTQ Network, NYU Press

Scholars of comparative politics have examined the transnational LGBTQ advocacy network (TAN) to study a variety of issue campaigns. While this previous research illustrates the importance of the TAN in achieving policy change, a lacuna remains in understanding the shape of the network itself. Much of this earlier work has left the connections within and across regions unknown. But without a more accurate description of the TAN’s structure, the analysis of its content and its potential achievements remains incomplete. We seek to fill this gap in the literature using hyperlink analysis to generate a network map of regional and global LGBTQ networks. We examine the shape of the network with the expectation that LGBTQ organizations will be nationally and regionally clustered while international organizations with a broad platform of human rights will be the central ties that connect regional clusters. This comports with previous scholarship on the important shift from a civil rights frame to a human rights frame and suggests that international non-governmental organizations serve as conduits between global north LGBTQ actors and those in the global south.