Local political mapping

When producing a political mapping, the procedure is basically the same as in the economic mapping. What is different is the focus. A political mapping is not primarily about economic interaction but about local politics and polity. The purpose is to draw a map which includes the important political actors (with special reference to economic issues, as opposed to, say, cultural issues) and the relationships between them - the relative power positions, power games, hierarchical relationships, conflicts, etc.

What are the main traps and errors? Probably the main problem is that participants may hesitate to address explicitly the existing political tensions and conflicts. It will rely on the persuasiveness and tact of you to overcome this kind of problem.

The following figures give an idea of how a political map may look like.

top

 mapping

economic
mapping
mapping of
the value
system
local political
mapping