Learning

Abstract

Learning is featured prominently in research on policy change and diffusion, adaptive governance and environmental governance, policy networks and collaborative governance, and is recognized as playing an important role in promoting productive governance. This chapter begins with an exploration of how this literature emphasizes different elements of learning and then identifies the opportunities for integrating these elements to clarify both the process and the products of learning. It further examines the factors that can facilitate or constrain learning, including governance processes that foster diverse stakeholder perspectives and new ways of knowing. Finally, the chapter discusses the challenges that governance scholars face in studying and measuring learning, and offers recommendations for future research agendas.