Governance-as-legitimacy: are ecosystems replacing networks?

Abstract

The paper challenges the network management perspective of Kooiman (2003) and Klijn and Koppenjan (2014) arguing that complexity in local public service governance now means they are better approached as ecosystems than networks, which are centrally managed. Instead, we note Duit and Galaz’s (2008) idea of flexible governances and, using a reformulated version of Lipsky’s (1980) street-level, synthesize Laclau’s (1990) idea of governance-as-legitimacy with Vygotsky’s (1934) social learning approach and Six’s (2005) trust theory to suggest a new analytical framework. We use the framework to analyse logic-of-practice in services-as-a-system (pulled, personal services).