ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an overview of the range of metagovernance structures that have been ascribed to interorganizational governance network configurations. It discusses the range of operational functions that have been attributed to governance networks. The chapter addresses how governance networks may be described in terms of the policy streams in which they function. It distinguishes basic operational functions from policy functions and argues that the policy functions and policy domains of a given governance network are what distinguish governance networks from other types of interorganizational networks. The basic operation functions of coordinating action, resource mobilization, exchange and pooling, information sharing, learning and knowledge transfer, and capacity building may be found within interorganizational networks of many different forms—including those organized to pursue decidedly private/nonpublic functions. The chapter concludes by introducing the notion that governance networks will take on specific policy domain functions that will vary drastically from domain to domain.
