Mechanisms of Governance Network Formation — a Contextual Rational Choice Perspective

Abstract

Where do governance networks come from? How do they emerge and why do they arise? Until recently these issues have not been prioritized in the network governance literature. Focus has been on the outcomes and political consequences of governance networks. Still, it seems appropriate to claim there is a lack of elaborated theoretical arguments about governance network formation (Hay & Richards 2000). If, however, governance networks are ‘here to stay’ and network governance should be ‘taken seriously’, we need a better understanding of the mechanisms of governance network formation. If the ‘second generation of network governance research’ specifically address meta-governance strategies (cf. Sørensen & Torfing in the Introduction), a crucial element should be systematic attempts to answer the questions above. It is the purpose of this chapter to develop some theoretically informed arguments about the formation and institutionalization of governance networks from what I call a contextual and ‘thin’ rational choice perspective.