FROM GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNANCE, THE LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY ESSAYS IN POLITICAL THEORY AND PUBLIC POLICY ‐ edited by Richard Bellamy and Antonino Palumbo
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Author | Joyce Liddle |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2012.02084.x |
REVIEWS 243
FROM GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNANCE, THE LIBRARY OF CONTEMPORARY
ESSAYS IN POLITICAL THEORY AND PUBLIC POLICY
Richard Bellamy and Antonino Palumbo (eds)
Ashgate Publishing, 2010, 536 pp., £145.00 (hb), ISBN: 9780754628033
In this excellent collection of existing research papers, two eminent and well qualified
editors thematically draw together 20 very separate, though nevertheless, authoritative
pieces aimed at enabling current researchers to reflect and consolidate their understand-
ings of political theory and public policy. The publication is aimed at other academics,
and Professional and Masters’ students, and will be of immense use to such a wide
readership.
The introduction provides a very detailed rationale to explain and underpin publication,
and the editors firmly express the view, shared by many academics, that governance, like
other concepts in this field of enquiry, such as trust or social capital, has gone viral and
spread like wildfire across disciplinary boundaries. Now established in its own right as
a contentious concept that straddles many disciplines within social sciences, this timely
collection of papers will significantly aid understanding. It is always difficult to theme
such a wide series of articles, not least because they cover such a long time period, with
many papers over 20 years old, and it is also problematic to decide what to include
or exclude. Many of these papers are classics of the genre, others more recent, but the
editors have done a fine job in marshalling them into five main themes (and 20 chapters;
see authors below) for our delectation: meanings, themes and narrative; the rise of the
regulatory state and network governance; regional integration and the development of
multi-level governance; globalization and the quest for governance; and governance and
democracy issues and questions. The editors did not impose a specific editorial format,
but instead presented papers as originally published, and in the format imposed by
original journal editors. This meant that some papers are longer than others, some had
abstracts, others did not; some had lengthy introductions, others did not; some provided
full reference lists at the rear, while others adopted a footnote referencing approach,
but overall it is understandable that each paper had been previously written within a
particular set of editorial guidelines. They do, however, all benefit the overall collection
and provide a thoroughly well organized and presented themed collection.
Each noteworthy contribution is included either for relevance and influence in gover-
nance studies, or in its capacity to illuminate more clearly different analyses of governance
issues. Materials that did satisfy the selection criteria were deliberately drawn from a
multiplicity of academic disciplines, and this is one of the major strengths of the col-
lection. It was also important for the editors to avoid purely review essays but instead
feature those providing a critical approach to governance issues. The editors accept the
difficulties in selecting an exhaustive list of papers from what has been a burgeoning field
of enquiry over the past 20 years, but they have been successful, nonetheless, in capturing
some of the major works representing established and newer, critical approaches and
perspectives. They do represent many of the major writers who have helped to establish
governance as a major and innovative research programme in both social and political
sciences. There were one or two prominent writers I would have expected to be included
Public Administration Vol. 91, No. 1, 2013 (232–250)
©2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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