Politiknetzwerke als governanceform: Versuch einer bestandsaufnahme und neuausrichtung der diskussion

Abstract

In this contribution, the authors first provide a review of the research on policy networks in the context of the wider discussion on governance mechanisms since the 1980s. One of the main findings in this review is that the majority of existing work takes the perspective of governance theories, i.e. networks are analyzed in contrast to markets and hierarchies. There are hardly any studies to date that look for example at effectiveness or legitimacy comparing different forms of networks. In a second step, central topics of future research on policy networks are suggested by drawing on comparable work in the area of organization science. It is concluded that especially questions about the internal coordination of policy networks ("governance of netwotks") hold potential for future research.