Explaining global network emergence and nonemergence: Comparing the processes of network formation for tuberculosis and pneumonia
| Author | Kathryn Quissell,Gill Walt,Jeremy Shiffman,David Berlan |
| Published date | 01 October 2018 |
| Date | 01 October 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1836 |
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Explaining global network emergence and nonemergence:
Comparing the processes of network formation for
tuberculosis and pneumonia
Kathryn Quissell
1
|David Berlan
2
|Jeremy Shiffman
3
|Gill Walt
4
1
Department of Public Health Sciences,
School of Medicine, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville
2
Askew School of Public Administration and
Policy, Florida State University, Tallahassee
3
Bloomberg School of Public Health and
School of Advanced International Studies,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
Washington, DC
4
Global Health and Development
Department, London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, London, UK
Correspondence
David Berlan, Askew School of Public
Administration and Policy, Florida State
University, 627 Bellamy Building, Tallahassee,
FL 32306‐3250.
Email: dberlan@fsu.edu
Funding information
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grant/
Award Number: OPPGH4831
Summary
Increased attention is being paid to networksin public administration and development
policy, yet there is limited understanding of how voluntary global networks form and
why some of these networks cohere and emerge faster than others. Comparisons
between the global networks for tuberculosis (TB) and pneumonia reveal processes
of network formation relevant to other contexts. Though selected as most similar
paired cases, their trajectories of network emergence diverged and TB's formed far
earlier and more easily. By using a theoretic framework allowing for networks to be
considered as outcomes of a policy process, this study reveals an iterative process of
network emergence corresponding to the three streams model of issue attention. Suc-
cessful emergence is based on building shared identities among policy entrepreneurs,
agreeing on issue frames, creating institutions, developing relationships, sustaining
latent networks during issue neglect, and linkingto opportunities in the policy environ-
ment. Further, this study reveals that once formed, network structures enable access
to political opportunities and more effective development policymaking and gover-
nance. Additionally, for networks struggling to take shape, we identify deliberate
efforts that can overcome earlier iterations of failed attempts at network formation.
KEYWORDS
development policy, global networks, governance, policy process
1|INTRODUCTION
Networks, in a wide variety of forms and purposes, are a growing sub-
ject of attention in public administration and development policy.
Reviews of prior scholarship on the topic reveal significant gaps in
knowledge (Berry et al., 2004; Ibarra, Kilduff, & Tsai, 2005; Isett,
Mergel, LeRoux, Mischen, & Rethemeyer, 2011; Lecy, Mergel, &
Schmitz, 2014; Provan, Fish, & Sydow, 2007). In particular, little is
yet known about how voluntary global networks form and evolve,
why some issue networks form easily, and why others struggle to coa-
lesce (Berry et al., 2004; Provan et al., 2007; Wachhaus, 2012). To
address how global networks form, this article compares the emer-
gence of two interorganizational networks focused on global health
issues: childhood pneumonia and tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis (TB) and pneumonia are two of the leading causes of
death and illness from communicable diseases in low‐and middle‐
income countries (Lozano et al., 2013). At the start of the 1990s, vol-
untary networks working on the two issues appeared similar, with
dedicated programs at international organizations, informal networks
of scholars and officials beginning to emerge, and progress on devel-
oping and improving interventions to address these diseases. If any-
thing, pneumonia's higher mortality burden—3.6 million childhood
deaths in 1990 (Garenne, Ronsmans, & Campbell, 1992) versus 2.5
million total deaths for TB (Raviglione, Snider, & Kochi, 1995)—would
rank it as of greater urgency. Yet in the next two decades, a broad,
coherent, and active global network with institutionalized governance
structures formed for TB, while a similar pneumonia network (focused
on children) is still in the process of emerging. The presence and
Received: 22 February 2018 Revised: 6 August 2018 Accepted: 15 August 2018
DOI: 10.1002/pad.1836
144 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin Dev. 2018;38:144–153.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pad
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