Polyarchy and societas: an extended continuum of discrete structural alternatives

Abstract

Abstract Horizontal, multilateral and polycentric forms of governance, albeit important in reality, represent a challenge for the now dominant use of the ‘market and hierarchy’ continuum of structural alternatives. This paper proposes a broader characterisation of both poles of the continuum of governance forms that would enhance the understanding of both intra- and inter-organisational governance. One side of the continuum would encompass examples of ‘societas’, for example, legal entities (among which firms) unifying property rights and deliberately coordinating actions through a wide set of voice-based mechanisms, including non-hierarchical ones. The other side of the continuum would encompass ‘polyarchies’, that is, forms of decentralised coordination among nodes deciding autonomously, but not necessarily linked by transactions of goods and services coordinated by prices, such as market exchanges. This paper uses several cases from the agri-food sector to show that many ‘strange’ unclassified forms can be described, explained and assessed as hybrids between polyarchy and societas. The final section of the paper proposes some refinements in the independent variables to be used in the comparative assessment of organisation forms and new propositions that can be derived for future research.