Trapped in the Complexity Bowl? Public Governance and the Liberal Art of Governing

For some time, academics have been discussing possible alternatives to new public managementunder headings such as network governance, collaborative governance, new public governance or,simply, public governance. This article seeks to better understand and critically discuss the rationalitiesof government supporting public governance. It argues that public governance is informed bya specific liberal rationality of government that differs from both classical liberalism and neoliberalism.Moreover, the diagnosis of societal complexity and concern for democratic self-government under-pinning public governance may entail the neglect of structural social problems, such as economicinequality, and the disqualification of other relevant forms of public intervention