Introduction: Democratic network governance

This edited volume aims to assess the recent experiences with governance networks at the local, national, and transnational levels. It reports and discusses the results of empirical studies of networks of public, semi-public and private actors who interact on the basis of mutual dependencies, institutional incentives and shared conceptions that help to facilitate negotiation and joint decision making in the face of persistent conflicts of interest. The contributors present new and insightful analyses of the formation and functioning of governance networks in different countries and different policy areas and they aim to assess the contribution of governance networks to an effective and democratic governing of our increasingly complex and fragmented societies.