Policy and Implementation Networks: Managing Complex Interactions

This article gives an overview of the research using the network concept to analyse policy-making and implementation. It discusses the three main research traditions that have used the network concept as a tool for analysing policy-making and implementation. The range of network types that have been studied from a network perspective is enormous and recently there seems to be a global explosion of research on policy and implementation networks. This article only presents a brief overview of some main findings and trends using a classification of the research on policy formation and implementation. Then, its focus shifts to what the literature has to tell about managing networks and the complex decision-making processes that take place within them. Furthermore, it considers the question of how to research networks of policy-making and implementation. Finally, it concludes with some observations about the future of this research tradition.