From Fragmentation to Comprehensiveness in Network Governance

Abstract

Public networks are increasingly implemented at different government levels and across policy areas to increase coordination of services, decision-making and services delivery. Network governance is one promising theoretical perspective through which networks have been studied by different scholars and schools of thought. However, the literature on network governance is still fragmented, sectorial and issues-based. An overarching framework for the comprehensive analysis of the accumulate knowledge is missing. To address this limitation, we propose a comprehensive framework for analyzing the development of the findings in the field. The framework includes four building blocks that reflect the main issues debated in literature: the conditions affecting the choice of a mode of network governance, the modes of network governance, the dimensions of meta-governance and the outcome evaluation. The framework would support academics and policy makers who deal with network governance in different policy domains. The article concludes with a discussion of the proposed framework and its applications in future research.