PhD Course

Network and Collaborative Governance

            Theories, Mathods and Practice

 

Bologna, Italy

Thursday 3 April – Saturday 5 April 2025

Organizers

Netherlands Institute of Governance and IRSPM & with the support of the Ph.D. program in Public Governance, Management and Policy (GOMAP), Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy)  

Lecturers: Professor Erik Hans Klijn (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Professor Joris Voets  (Ghent University, Belgium)

Guest lectures by: dr. Robin Lemaire (Louisiana State University), dr. Rianne Warsen (Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

Aim of the course

Transformations of state and society over the last 3 decades have increased the importance of various forms of collaborative and network governance in forming and implementing public policy. Collaborative and network forms of governance take place in networks (including collaborative arrangements like partnerships and arrangements to foster coproduced public services), and engage public, private and civil society actors at transnational, national, regional and local scales in shaping the future of our societies. These networks or collaborative arrangements however may fail due to many causes. Managing network and collaborative arrangements is considered essential as a means to mitigate the risk of failure and enable networks to achieve desired outcomes in terms of more effective and democratic governance, more innovation policy making and delivery of public services.

Research into collaborative and network governance is now firmly established all over the world and the research keeps growing. It offers important opportunities for theoretical and methodological development, and for the generation of new knowledge with both academic and policy relevance. National and local differences demonstrate the need for theoretically and methodologically sound comparative research. The course will provide both an overview of the state of the art and a platform for discussing collaborative and network theories and students’ individual contributions.

This course is offered by the Netherlands School of Governance (NIG) in cooperation with the International Research Society of Public Management (IRSPM) and hosted by the University of Bologna (Italy). Main lecturers are professor Erik-Hans Klijn (former IRSPM-president and co-chair of the Special Interest Group ‘Complexity & Network Governance’) professor Joris Voets (co-chair of the Special Interest Group ‘Complexity & Network Governance’), supported by guest lectures by dr. Robin Lemaire (Louisiana State University) and Dr. Rianne Warsen (Erasmus University Rotterdam). This course creates a learning community in which PhD students will:

  • Develop their analytical understanding of collaborative and network governance;
  • Strengthen their theoretical and methodological knowledge;
  • Test their ideas and conclusions through dialogue with leading researchers;
  • Contextualize their research in a comparative, multi-national setting;
  • Have a chance to present and discuss and gain feedback on their research;
  • Build an international network of young researchers in the field.

Credits

The course accounts for 4 ECTS, which includes the writing of a paper and preparing the literature. When finished the course students will get an official certificate issue out by The Netherlands Institute of Governance (NIG), which is an official accredited research school.

Registration

If you want to participate in the course, please apply by filling in the application form on the NIG website:

https://www.nigovernance.nl/apply-for-phd-courses/

Fees

Free for NIG PhD members

  • 500 € for PhD candidates based at NIG member universities
  • 500 € for IRSPM participants
  • 750 € for other participants

About NIG

The Netherlands Institute of Governance (NIG) is the Dutch Research School for Public Administration and Political Science. NIG is an interuniversity research school in which faculties from nine Dutch universities participate. NIG is accredited by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). NIG coordinates and stimulates research in the area of Public Administration and Political Science and offers a training program for PhD students. For more information on NIG’s activities, see https://www.nigovernance.nl/

Programme

This is a 2,5-day course, combining daily lectures, exercises, and discussions of core themes in the field of collaborative and network governance research with presentations and discussions of the PhD-research of the participants.

THEORY: The course deals with the theory and practice of network and collaborative governance. How can we define governance, collaborative governance and governance network? What is the potential role of networks and how do we explain their formation? How is collaborative and network governance practiced in different national contexts and at different levels? What are the main differences between the leading theories? The social network perspective on this topic is also introduced.

ANALYSIS: The course also explores how we can reconstruct/analyze networks and complex collaborative decision-making processes.

NORMATIVE ISSUES: The course covers the normative aspects of (network and collaborative) governance: their democratic legitimacy and how we can evaluate outcomes.

RESEARCH METHODS: We elaborate on a set of research methods that are relevant in collaborative & network research. What is out there, what is being used, for which types of questions?  We discuss possibilities and strengths and weaknesses of various methods.

FUTURE RESEARCH: What is the agenda for network and collaboration researchers?  

The course includes several types of activities:

  • Interactive lectures which present the state of the art of the field (= lectures)
  • Discussions between lecturers and PhD-students on core readings which focus on central questions and topics (= discussions)
  • Application of theoretical skills in empirical analysis (= exercise)
  • Presentations by PhD students of their own work (= PhD presentations)
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