Aim of the course
Transformations of state and society over the last 3 decades have increased the importance of various forms of collaborative and network governance in forming and implementing public policy. Collaborative and network forms of governance take place in networks (including collaborative arrangements like partnerships and arrangements to foster coproduced public services), and engage public, private and civil society actors at transnational, national, regional and local scales in shaping the future of our societies. These networks or collaborative arrangements however may fail due to many causes. Managing network and collaborative arrangements is considered essential as a means to mitigate the risk of failure and enable networks to achieve desired outcomes in terms of more effective and democratic governance, more innovation policy making and delivery of public services.

Research into collaborative and network governance is now firmly established all over the world and the research keeps growing. It offers important opportunities for theoretical and methodological reflection on these theories but also opportunities for the generation of new knowledge with both academic and policy relevance, which is the aim of this course. The course will:

• Provide an overview of the state of collaborative and network theories
• Provide a platform for discussing collaborative and network theories and students individual contributions.
• Discuss ways to research networks and methodological choices

This course is offered by the Netherlands School of Governance (NIG) in cooperation with the International Research Society of Public Management (IRSPM). Main lecturers are professor Erik-Hans Klijn (former IRSPM-president and co-chair of the Special Interest Group ‘Complexity & Network Governance’) professor Joris Voets (co-chair of the Special Interest Group ‘Complexity & Network Governance’), supported by guest lectures.