Municipalities as Governance Network Actors in Rural Communities

Roger Henning Normann and Mikaela Vasström

European Planning Studies, 2011, vol. 20, issue 6, 941-960

Abstract: The concept of rural network governance can include different practices, and it is important to gain insight into governance role formation processes. The ability of rural municipalities to effectively perform their role as governance network actors is significantly influenced by municipal organization and norms. Small differences can have big consequences and lead municipalities into different types of governance network roles. This is important to consider in situations where rural communities are facing imbalances and the municipalities increasingly are expected to engage in new roles and take more responsibility for local development. Effective strategies for using local network structures can help rural communities achieve sustainable development. We develop four different governance network models and discuss how the municipal authorities and citizen groups in two rural communities in Setesdal, Norway, perceive the current governance role of the municipality as well as their views on how this role ideally should be performed. We conclude that explanations for the different strategies relate mainly to norms and processes that are endogenous to the communities, which may indicate that rural municipalities have a great deal of autonomy in deciding how to use local network resources.

Date: 2011
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09654313.2012.673565 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:20:y:2011:i:6:p:941-960

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CEPS20

DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2012.673565

Access Statistics for this article

European Planning Studies is currently edited by Philip Cooke and Louis Albrechts

More articles in European Planning Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().