The effects of social ties on voting: the Eurovision as an (entertaining) test case
From Santa Fe Institute Event Wiki
As some of us know (and secretly love), the Eurovision is a ridiculous albeit fascinating enterprise. Every year, each European nation (very broadly defined: including Morocco and Israel) sends its finest musical talent to compete over the vote of the continental lowest denominator. But over the years this celebration of friendship and art has been tainted by accusations of political interests and blocvoting. We are using network analysis of voting in the last 30 years in an attempt to identify these patterns and understand the socio-cultural mechanisms that underlie and generate them.
