ABSTRACT
The concept of governance has gained great popularity across many of the social sciences during the last decade, although it has been used differently in a variety of contexts. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify some shared characteristics that provide the basis of the governance perspectives (Bonfiglioli 2003; Rhodes 1996; Shaffer 2001). These include: a strong interest in selforganizing, inter-organizational networks; shifting boundaries between public, private and voluntary organizations and an indirect and imperfect ‘steering’ by the state. For Jessop (1995) the concept of governance signals a concern for the mechanisms of government that are not necessarily ‘anchored’ to the nation state.
