ABSTRACT

The article explores the relation between the functional differentiation of society and the transformation of public governance. Based on the analysis of functional differentiation provided by Niklas Luhmann, the article interprets functional differentiation as the historical constitution of the basic and encompassing governance traditions in modern society, defined by the governance mediums of so-called function systems and the various programmes and scripts developed in relation to such mediums. It is argued that such an analysis provides an empirical alternative to the distinction between state, market and networks and the underlying macro-sociology of state, market and civil society widely used in governance research. Based on this analysis, the article argues that government organizations have increasingly developed strategies and instruments of steering and coordination that rely on the mediums, programmes and scripts of various function systems. In contrast to increased use of networks in public governance, widely held to constitute the most important transformation of public governance at the level of organizations, the appropriation of new mediums and programmes pertains to the relation between government organizations and the governance traditions comprised by function systems. Thus, the article elaborates changes in this relationship in more detail with respect to political and legal function systems, as well as in terms of the economic system, science and the family.