What are the roles of governments and other actors in solving, or alleviating, collective action problems in today’s world? The traditional conceptual frameworks of public administration and public policy studies have become less relevant in answering this question. This book critically assesses traditional conceptual frameworks and proposes an alternative: a complex governance networks (CGN) framework.
Advocating that complexity theory should be systematically integrated with foundational concepts of public administration and public policy, Göktuğ Morçöl begins by clarifying the component concepts of CGN and then addresses the implications of CGN for key issues in public administration and policy studies: effectiveness, accountability, and democracy. He illustrates the applicability of the CGN concepts with examples for the COVID-19 pandemic and metropolitan governance, particularly the roles of business improvement districts in governance processes. Morçöl concludes by discussing the implications of CGN for the convergence of public administration and public policy education and offering suggestions for future studies using the CGN conceptualization.
Complex Governance Networks is essential reading for both scholars and advanced students of public policy, public administration, public affairs, and related areas.
Author(s): Göktuğ Morçöl
Series: Routledge Research in Public Administration and Public Policy
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 242
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Figures
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
An Overview of the Literatures
COVID-19
Notes
Part I Concepts
2 Governance
A Brief History of Governance
Conceptualizations of Governance
Polycentrism
COVID-19 and Governance
Summary
Notes
3 Governance Networks
A Brief History of Network Thinking and Science
Governance Networks
An Ideal Type of Governance Networks and Typologies
COVID and Governance Networks
Summary
Notes
4 Complexity
A Definition of Complexity
Systems
Systemness
Systems and Networks
Multiplicity, Variations, and Nonlinearity
Self-Organization
A Historical Background
Complexity Theory and Self-Organization
Self-Organization in Governance Networks
Emergence
Coevolution
Complexity and COVID-19
Coevolution: A Macro View of the Pandemic
Defining Systems
Nonlinearity
Self-organization
Summary
Notes
Part II A Complex Governance Networks Conceptualization
5 Introduction of the Conceptualization
The Micro–Macro Problem and Collective Problems of Human Societies
A Brief Background of the Micro–Macro Problem
Why the Micro–Macro Problem Is Important for Understanding Social Systems
The Micro–Macro Problem and Policy Process Theories
Micro, Macro, and Other Levels
Summary
Notes
6 Micro Units
Rationality of Actors/Agents
Criticisms of the Rationality Assumption
(Bounded) Rationality in Policy Process Theories
Complexity Theory and Rational Actor
Summary
Note
7 Micro to Macro
Aggregation Or Emergence?
Irreducibility
Mechanisms of Emergence
Modeling the Micro to Macro Processes
Summary
Notes
8 Macro to Micro: Background and Conceptualizations of Downward Causation
Structuration
Summary
Notes
Part III Implications of the Complex Governance Networks Conceptualization for Key Issues in Governance
9 Wicked Problems and Effectiveness
Wicked Problems
What Are Wicked Problems?
The Uses of the Term Wicked Problems in the Literature and Its Criticisms
Effectiveness
Effectiveness in Public Policy and Administration
Effectiveness of Governance Networks
Summary
Note
10 Accountability
Definitions and Conceptualizations of Accountability
An Overview of the Conceptualizations of Accountability
Multidimensional Accountability Models
Governance Networks and Accountability
Accountability in Complex Systems
Accountability in Metropolitan Governance
Business Improvement Districts and Accountability
Summary
Notes
11 Democracy
Conceptual Clarifications
Self-Organization, the State, and Democracy
Ideal Types of Democracy
Liberal Democracy
Deliberative/Discursive Democracy
Practice-Based Democracy
Configurations of the Three Ideal Types
Democracy in the Public Administration and Governance Networks Literatures
Public Administration and Democracy
Governance Networks and Democracy
Role of the State: Meta-Governance
Summary
Notes
Conclusions: A Summary of the Book’s Contents
The Complex Governance Networks Conceptualization
General Conclusions
A Non-Dichotomous, Configurational View of Governance Processes
Convergence of the Fields of Study?
Self-Organization and Adaptive Governance
So What?
References
Index
