Political power from elite family networks in colonial Buenos Aires

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to show the relationship between the nominations for seats in the Cabildo of Buenos Aires between 1776 and 1810 and the network status of councilmen and their families. To this end, we test hypotheses on the relation of network metrics of elite individuals and families with political positions in the council. We find that actors and families with higher degree of connectedness are statistically associated with entrance and access to more prominent positions in the council as indicators of political power. Specifically, more centralized connections seem to assist individuals on the road to higher positions. In the case of families, a more dense structure of overlapped connections may have assured that more members reached higher positions in the Cabildo.