The second generation of governance network theory and beyond

This book has aimed to deliver theoretically informed answers to new and pressing questions about the dynamics of governance networks, the conditions for their success and failure, the forms and functions of metagovernance, and the democratic problems and potentials of network governance. In this concluding chapter we aim to assess the answers that the authors have given to these questions. We pinpoint and discuss their theoretical points of departure, summarize and compare their answers, and identify areas where further discussion and research needs to be done in the future. Our assessment of the theoretically informed answers to the questions raised by the new second generation of governance network theory will be followed by speculations about where this kind of research might go next. However, first we briefly restate the argument about the importance of focussing on interactive governance through networks.