P02 SIG Complexity and Network Governance

Corresponding Chair and Review Group Chair

Joris Voets, Ghent University, Belgium: joris.voets@ugent.be

Panel Coordinators

• Robin Lemaire, Louisiana State University;
• Joris Voets, Ghent University;
• Erik-Hans Klijn, Erasmus University Rotterdam;
• Chris Koliba, University of Kansas;
• Robyn Keast, Southern Cross University;

The Complexity and Network Governance SIG invites abstracts that engage with the IRSPM 2027 conference theme, “Polycrisis, Wicked Problems and Grand Challenges: Public Administrations in Search of Safety and Security,” through complexity and/or network perspectives.

Complexity theory and network governance offer important ways of understanding interconnected crises, wicked problems, uncertainty, and interdependence. At the same time, contemporary challenges provide an opportunity to examine the promise and limits of our existing theories, concepts, and methods and look for innovations.

We welcome theoretical, empirical, methodological, and practice-oriented contributions addressing topics such as:

• Complexity, complex adaptive systems, network governance, and collaborative governance in relation to wicked problems, polycrises, and grand challenges;
• The formation, evolution, and management of collaborative and networked responses to complex problems;
• Leadership/network management, coordination, adaptation, learning, and interdependence under conditions of complexity and uncertainty;
• The strengths and limitations of existing complexity and network theories and concepts;
• Methodological approaches and challenges in studying complex and networked governance, including social network analysis, comparative case studies, QCA, agent-based modelling, and innovative or mixed methods; and
• Practitioner experiences and knowledge about navigating wicked problems and polycrises.

We particularly encourage contributions that use contemporary governance challenges to reflect critically on the field:

• What do complexity and network perspectives help us see?
• What might they miss?
• And how should our theories, methods, and practices evolve to better understand governance in an era of polycrisis?