Deploying governance networks for societal challenges

Governments are increasingly engaging private sector organizations, civil society and citizens to tackle complex policy challenges through some forms of networked governance arrangements. These governance networks which in general facilitate flexibility, speed and innovation in government, when compared with traditional governance forms, are necessary to meaningfully govern smart societies characterised by many programs spanning policy domains and levels of governments. This article presents a conceptual framework for governance networks and applies the framework to describe and analyse six case studies presented as part of the Track on “Governing through Networks” of the International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2013) Conference. Insights from the analysis of these cases somewhat suggest that: 1) governance networks are still largely steered by government; 2) efficacy of governance networks is contingent on citizen's inclusion in the governance networks; and 3) mobile social media platforms could constitute a key infrastructure for enabling citizen participation in these governance networks. Important policy and research challenges in this domain include how to effectively motivate citizen participation in these networks and align the divergent views of the different actors collaborating in the network.