An introduction to polycentric governing

This chapter sets out the overall motivation, context, concepts, and outline of the book. As its motivation, the volume is instigated by a question both compact in its formulation and sweeping in its implications: namely, how are we being governed today? The chapter notes that this question has attracted much creative thought across disciplines and perspectives over recent decades. However, the various approaches have rarely come into a cross-fertilizing conversation with one another. This book aims to effect such a dialogue around the core notion of polycentric governing as well as more specific themes of techniques, power and legitimacy. The chapter distinguishes four broad streams of theorizing polycentric governing: organizational, socio-legal, relational and structural. This fourfold categorization also informs the four-part organization of the book.Security and Global AffairsInstitutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Polycentrism: how governing works today

How does governing work today? How does society (mis)handle pressing challenges such as armed violence, cultural difference, ecological degradation, economic restructuring, geopolitical shifts, global pandemics, migration flows, and technological change in ways that are (not) democratic, effective, fair, peaceful, and sustainable? This volume addresses these key questions with reference to the theme of 'polycentrism', i.e. the idea that contemporary governing is dispersed, fluctuating, messy, elusive, and headless. Chapters develop this notion of polycentrism from the perspectives of a broad spectrum of academic disciplines and theoretical approaches, offering comprehensive coverage of exciting new thinking about how today's world is (mis)ruled. The book identifies four paradigms of knowledge about polycentric governing - organizational, legal, relational, and structural - and pursues conversations across the divides that normally keep these approaches within separate research communities. These exceptional inter-paradigm exchanges focus particularly on issues of techniques (how governing is done), power (what forces drive governing), and legitimacy (whether governing is rightful). Comparisons between the multiple perspectives on polycentric governing highlight, and help to clarify, the distinctive emphases, potentials, and limitations of each approach. In addition, various combinations of the different theories generate promising novel avenues of thought about polycentrism. The book will allow readers to develop and refine their own understandings of governing today and hence to become more empowered political subjects.Security and Global AffairsInstitutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Conclusion: what does polycentrism (not) reveal about governing today?

This chapter reviews and consolidates the findings of the volume. The editors reflect on the contributions and limitations of polycentrism as a core concept for understanding governing today; on techniques, power and legitimacy as three core issues of polycentric governing; on the typology of organizational, legal, relational and structural theories; and on the methodology of interparadigm dialogue of difference. The chapter also explores possibilities of transcending the typology and combining insights from the four approaches in a more holistic understanding of governing.Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou