Summary
Contents
Key Concepts in Governance provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays. Each entry features a snapshot definition of the concept, a contextualization of the concept, an overview of relevant debates, and a guide to further reading. The book also includes a substantial introductory chapter which gives an overview of governance studies as a whole, orientating and guiding the reader around the issues that the concepts address.
Differentiated Polity
Differentiated Polity
Definition
A differentiated polity consists of a number of interdependent organizations such as governments, departments, and agencies. The political integration of the organizations is limited, as is the degree of administrative standardization across them. A differentiated polity is fragmented between organizations that cover different territories, deliver varied functions, or both. Hence governance occurs through a maze of institutions that give rise to a complex pattern of decentralized functions. Governance occurs, in other words, in and through networks composed of the relevant governments, departments, agencies, and other social and political actors. The organizations in the networks are interdependent: each organization relies on cooperative exchanges with the others to secure parts of its agenda. The networks themselves are often self-organizing, and they have at least some ...