Network Governance - Definition and Theories

Definition and Theories

Governance networks have been defined by Sorensen and Torfing as:

• "a relatively stable horizontal articulation of interdependent, but operationally autonomous actors
• who interact through negotiations that involve bargaining, deliberation and intense power struggles
• which take place within a relatively institutionalized framework of contingently articulated rules, norms, knowledge and social imaginations
• that is self-regulating within limits set by external agencies and
• which contribute to the production of public purpose in the broad sense of visions, ideas, plans and regulations."(p. 3)

With this definition in mind, Sorenson and Torfing identify four points of democratic anchorage for use in assessing the democratic performance of a governance network. These points are the extent to which the network:

1. "is controlled by democratically elected politicians;
2. represents the membership basis of the participating groups and organizations;
3. is accountable to the territorially defined citizenry; and
4. follows the democratic rules specified by a particular grammar of conduct."