A management perspective on policy networks

This article deals broadly with the idea of policy networks as an opportunity for public policy-making. It starts by explaining the move away from an anti-statist approach to an increasing recognition of the need for government involvement. It is, however, also clear that government cannot reclaim its post-war welfare state position as the central governing authority in society. These observations necessitate reflection upon the relation between government and society. In social science this reflection has contributed to the rise of a new idea which is becoming increasingly popular: the concept of policy networks.

The concept 'policy network' connects public policies with their strategic and institutionalised context: the network of public, semi-public, and private actors participating in certain policy fields. The main argument of the book is that public policy is made and implemented in networks of interdependent actors. Public management should therefore be seen as network management, and interdependency is the key word in the network approach. Interdependency is based on the distribution of resources between various actors, the goals they pursue and their perceptions of their resource dependencies. Information, goals and resources are exchanged in interactions, these are frequent and some formalisation and institutionalisation occurs. The policy networks take shape around policy problems and/or policy programmes.

The authors seek to move away from the network analyses that focus on the failure and incompetence of governments. They rather focus on the potentials of policy networks for problem resolution and governmental steering. Network management is described as an example of governance and public management in situations of interdependencies. It is aimed as coordinating strategies of actors with different goals and preferences with regard to a certain problem or policy measure, within an existing network of inter-organisational relations. Network management aims at initiating and facilitating interaction processes between actors, creating and changing network arrangements for better coordination.

(From ODI bibs)