Networks, Actors and Institutions

This article analyzes the theoretical contribution of the policy networks approach to the study of public policy management in contemporary societies. The document emphasizes the relevance of the distinctive autonomous characteristics of each policy sector and hence, the multiplicity of interactive public-private patterns that take place at different levels of government: national, regional and local. It studies the way in which the proponents, combining the contributions of political science and organizational theory, happen to elaborate a conception that exceeds the traditional distinction between agent and structure, reconciling the principle of limited rationality with institutional theory. It develops a flexible concept that allows to capture the complex game between actor and institution at the intermediate levels.

This work also tries to highlight the theoretical and normative limitations of the policy networks approach. From a theoretical point of view, the networks approach is an analytical instrument that allows to study a specific public policy process, but does not offer a finished model able to be articulated with a theory of the State.

From a normative perspective, this approach is presented as an efficient way of designing and applying public policies (as a form of governance), able to solve problems of coordination and conduction in modern societies, where the State has lost its central role. The limits of this approach stem from the fact that it does not recognize the particular role that the State plays in networks, diminishing its relevance when it is considered as just one more actor.