Theoretical Approaches to Governance Network Failure

Abstract

The increasing and more systematic use of governance networks in public policy and governance can be seen as a political response to the many reports of government failure and market failure that emerged in the 1970s and onwards. The attempts of central and local governments to govern society through comprehensive planning programmes, macro-economic fine-tuning and elaborate systems of bureaucratic control were accused of being too costly and of failing to provide flexible responses to emerging policy problems and new challenges. The neoliberal marketization strategy aimed to solve these problems by means of privatizations, deregulation and the introduction of quasi-markets that supposedly stimulated an efficient and flexible allocation of goods and services. However, market imperfections, negative externalities and the failure to provide proactive solutions to societal problems have revealed the limits of the neoliberal revolution. In this situation governance networks have been seen as an attractive alternative, or complement, to governance through hierarchies and markets. Although it is still subject to political contestation, governance through negotiated interaction between public and private actors is by many political decision makers supposed to provide flexible and proactive solutions to problems and challenges characterized by a high degree of complexity, uncertainty and interdependency. The ever expanding discourse on partnership and joint up government bears witness to the warm political embrace of new forms of network governance.