Networks for Water Policy

de Hans Bressers

Network models for analysing public policy have become widely used in recent years. This volume assesses the network idea by applying a common perspective on network analysis to the constellations involved in water policy formation and implementation in several countries - England and Wales, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and the United States - and at the level of the European Union. The investigations comprising this volume have been produced as part of a coordinated project by scholars of policy and politics in several countries. Each case treats the issues of water policy network composition and structure, and determinants of network characteristics, as well as documenting the influence of the networks on policy developments towards more network openness, more emulation of business behaviour, and less domination by traditional professional groups such as engineers. Essays by the editors provide a common analytical perspective and offer both explicitly-comparative conclusions and evidence-based assessments of the strengths and limitations of the network perspective.