Complex Governance Networks: Foundational Concepts and Practical Implications

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.

Göktuğ Morçöl is Professor of Public Policy and Administration at The Pennsylvania State University in Harrisburg. His research interests are complexity theory, metropolitan governance, business improvement districts, and research methodology. He teaches courses in research methods, program evaluation, and policy analysis.