Making connections: Hybrid local networks and public action: Introduction to the special issue
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Author | Nassera Touati |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852318790670 |
| Subject Matter | Special issue on Making connections: Hybrid networks and public action, Guest editors: Nassera Touati and Deena WhiteIntroduction |
Introduction
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Making connections:
Hybrid local networks
and public action:
Introduction to the
special issue
Nassera Touati
E
´cole nationale d’administration publique, Canada
Networking is considered by many analysts (Alford and O’Flynn, 2012; Ferlie
et al., 2013) as the most appropriate solution to complex problems (which require
better management of interdependencies between the actors involved). Networks
are understood as structures of interdependence involving multiple actors that are
not in subordinate relations to each other (O’Toole, 1997), which does not exclude
the existence of power relationships.
Many of the social issues that we are facing are complex. The ageing of the
population is one such issue that raises many challenges in terms of the need for
social and health services, the economic condition of seniors, the provision of
adequate housing and environments, maintaining self-help and social networks,
and managing the impact on the labour market and public finances. The juxtapo-
sition of several other social phenomena (e.g. increased migration flows and the
transformation of gender relations) adds to this complexity. The answer to these
social problems is the deployment of intersectoral networks that involve actors
from different sectors of societal organisation (state, private and civil society), and
sectors of public action (e.g. education, health and housing) (Divay et al., 2013).
These networks are considered as hybrid networks (Skelcher and Smith, 2015)
insofar as they involve actors influenced by different institutional logics.
Thornton and Ocasio (1999: 804) define institutional logics as ‘the socially con-
structed, historical patterns of material practices, assumptions, values, beliefs, and
Corresponding author:
Nassera Touati, E
´cole nationale d’administration publique, Que
´bec, Canada.
Email: nassera.touati@enap.ca
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2018, Vol. 84(3) 430–434
!The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020852318790670
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
To continue reading
Request your trial