Models of local decision-making networks in Britain and France
By: JOHN, Peter
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Contributor(s): COLE, Alistair.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: UK : Policy Press, oct. 1995Subject(s): ChinaPolicy & Politics 23, 4, p. 303-312Abstract: The greater complexity of decision making produced by local governance presents researchers with the challenge of explaining how policy is made in local networks of key actors. This process is even more complex when examined cross-nationally between Britain and France. Policy network theory is a useful tool for describing these relationships, but is less able to explain them. A more fruitful approach is to use the tools of network analysis to indicate the structure of networks and apply models of how power is exercised in them. The advantage of this method is that it can analyse the nature of networks comparatively, taking into account the different traditions and institutions of British and French sub-national politics. Six models can explain how new networked relationships in localities operate: pluralism, neo-pluralism, policy advocacy coalition theory, new institutionalism, the bureaucratic politics model and the local effect. To reflect the variety of practices between policy sectors and countries, a multitheoretic framework is offered. Though the article sees networks as largely epiphenomenal, networks can affect policy outcomes through the emergence of trust through personal contacts and the intersection of political and social networks
The greater complexity of decision making produced by local governance presents researchers with the challenge of explaining how policy is made in local networks of key actors. This process is even more complex when examined cross-nationally between Britain and France. Policy network theory is a useful tool for describing these relationships, but is less able to explain them. A more fruitful approach is to use the tools of network analysis to indicate the structure of networks and apply models of how power is exercised in them. The advantage of this method is that it can analyse the nature of networks comparatively, taking into account the different traditions and institutions of British and French sub-national politics. Six models can explain how new networked relationships in localities operate: pluralism, neo-pluralism, policy advocacy coalition theory, new institutionalism, the bureaucratic politics model and the local effect. To reflect the variety of practices between policy sectors and countries, a multitheoretic framework is offered. Though the article sees networks as largely epiphenomenal, networks can affect policy outcomes through the emergence of trust through personal contacts and the intersection of political and social networks
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