The inner life of local governance networks: are there differences in perceptions between political and civil society actors? – evidences from Portugal

The complexity of policy processes in scope and scale pushed the interactions of societal actors towards institutionalized governance networks with local authorities. Often encouraged by European, national and regional incentives aimed at reducing territorial inequalities, a wide range of partnerships amongst municipalities and societal actors has emerged, with different choices in terms of the architecture and intensity of local governance arrangements. These networks have been taken as a panacea to generate policies capable of boosting the development of the territory. Despite the benefits to be gained from exploiting these state-society partnerships, it should not be disregarded that governance arrangements are very complex systems, leading to a series of decision-making, coordination, participation and management and accountability challenges. The growing prominence of local governance networks has sparked significant academic interest, but existent research tends to be focused on the institutional and external aspects of the phenomenon, largely disregarding state-society partnerships’ inner functioning and dynamics. In a context where strategic direction and effective leadership are needed to foster broader cooperation between local authorities and a wider set of stakeholders, the complexity of institutionalized governance networks and the role of societal actors at the local level must be assessed. This paper aims to explore the perceptions of different actors across diverse typologies of networks – created either by a mandate from the central government (top-down) or created by the initiative of local governments or other local actors (bottom-up). Perceptions on coordination, capacity and accountability are discussed based on an empirical analysis of 127 semi-structured interviews with mayors, and representatives of relevant local stakeholders involved in 49 local governance arrangements in Portugal.