Interrogating Networks: Towards an Agnostic Perspective on Governance Research

Davies, Jonathan S. and Spicer, Andre, Interrogating Networks: Towards an Agnostic Perspective on Governance Research. Environment and Planning C (2014, Forthcoming)

37 Pages Posted: 17 May 2013

See all articles by Jonathan S. Davies

Jonathan S. Davies

De Montfort University; Centre for Urban Research on Austerity

Andre Spicer

University of Warwick - Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour (IROB) Subject Group

Date Written: February 1, 2013

Abstract

Networks have rapidly become the dominant trope in governance theory and practice. While scholarship highlights important benefits, there has been insufficient systematic interrogation of the potential pathologies in network governance. This paper addresses the lacuna. We begin by discussing different kinds of network analysis and distinguishing the specific claims of network governance theory. We then pull together the scattered critically oriented literatures on the topic, identifying major problems with network modes of governance: hypocrisy, distrust, marketization, subjugation, anti-proceduralism, fragmentation, and ‘netsploitation’. We finally argue for a more agnostic approach to governance research, capable of taking account of these pathologies and thereby putting networks in their place. This means avoiding the fetishization of particular modes of governance and giving more careful attention to the settings in which they each can be useful.

Keywords: networks, hierarchy, market, governance, orthodoxy, critique

Suggested Citation

Davies, Jonathan S. and Davies, Jonathan S. and Spicer, Andre, Interrogating Networks: Towards an Agnostic Perspective on Governance Research (February 1, 2013). Davies, Jonathan S. and Spicer, Andre, Interrogating Networks: Towards an Agnostic Perspective on Governance Research. Environment and Planning C (2014, Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2265793

Jonathan S. Davies (Contact Author)

De Montfort University ( email )

Hugh Aston Building
The Gateway
Leicester, East Midlands LE1 9BH
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/professor-jonathan-davies

Centre for Urban Research on Austerity ( email )

The Gateway
Leicester, LE1 9BH
United Kingdom

Andre Spicer

University of Warwick - Industrial Relations & Organisational Behaviour (IROB) Subject Group ( email )

Coventry, CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

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