A Complex Adaptive System Approach to the Assessment of Failure of Public Governance Networks

Hendrik M. Koolma

International Review of Public Administration, 2013, vol. 18, issue 2, 65-84

Abstract: Institutional failure of societal sectors has become a challenging subject of public inquiry since the financial crisis. In this paper these sectors are conceptualized as publicly governed networks of organization executives, supervisory boards, regulatory agencies, and governmental representatives. This type of network is approached as a complex adaptive system. A theoretical framework is set up to determine under which conditions the networks fail. The predictive and explanatory power of the framework is tested in a particular case, namely the Dutch public housing sector. The Dutch central state has applied both new public management and network governance techniques to promote self-regulating and responsible operation of the housing corporations. At this moment, all participants critique this transformation because of continuing organizational breakdowns and inability of the network to correct failures in advance. A conclusion is that ill-considered network governance engenders drawbacks and might even escalate into a sector crisis.

Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/12294659.2013.10805253 (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:rrpaxx:v:18:y:2013:i:2:p:65-84

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RRPA20

DOI: 10.1080/12294659.2013.10805253

Access Statistics for this article

International Review of Public Administration is currently edited by Ralph Brower

More articles in International Review of Public Administration from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().