The Democratic Prospects of Network Governance

Abstract

This article considers the democratic implications of the shift toward policy making and implementation through networks, integrating articles presented at a 2003 conference on democratic network governance. The authors argue that the effect of increased cross-sectoral and civil society involvement in governing has been to stretch liberal democratic processes to comprise greater numbers of actors involved in lateral network relationships. Although network governance has the potential to promote deliberation and to improve flexibility and responsiveness in service provision, it also raises serious issues regarding equity, accountability, and democratic legitimacy. There is a need to improve political coherence through, for example, steering or metagovernance of governance activities. Important questions for future research involve the character of actors who will take responsibility for metagovernance (e.g., politicians or public administrators) and the approaches they will use to steer governance processes.