Unfolding metagovernance in practice? It's networks all the way down

The uncertaintry created by substantive complexity has led public management scholars to focus on network governance as a response to such complexity. This could also be seen the other way around, that is, the study of... [ view full abstract ]

The uncertaintry created by substantive complexity has led public management scholars to focus on network governance as a response to such complexity. This could also be seen the other way around, that is, the study of governance networks has become a convenient way to study the complex systems that make up the real world of public governance.  Governance for the most part takes place through the interactions between multi-institutional, multi-layered structures many of which might be classified as governance networks.

Osborne and colleagues (2015) have posited that  public sector organisational performance is related to the performance of a whole ecosystem of interdependent organisations. This paper will argue that likewise the governance network. That is governance perormance involves nonlinear interactions among interdependent networks as well as with hierarchies and markets.

The paper uses a case study of a freshwater water governance ecosystem and the interactions between multi-organisational, and multi-layers of networks that make up the governance of this complex system  A qualitative, interpretive methodology is used and the paper draws on a conceptual framework from the literatures on governance network performance, public service organisations, and complexity theory. It concludes that governance network performance is endogenously generated through reinforcing interactions and likelise the sustainability of that performance can be threatened through changes in any of the interdependnet networks.