ABSTRACT
This chapter presents several descriptive approaches to policy networks in some more detail. It also presents networks conceived as dependent variables. The chapter analyzes the influence of external factors on the pattern of interactions between actors, derive hypotheses about their origins from other theoretical approaches, and test them accordingly. It introduces networks as independent variables; such studies analyze the influence of network structures on policies and their success. The image of the policy network represents an intuitively comprehensible metaphor: regular communication and frequent exchange of information lead to the establishment of stable relationships between actors and to the coordination of their mutual interests. The descriptive reconstruction of networks is a precondition for understanding their origins. Identifying the determinants of policy networks and connecting these determinants with specific features of policy networks is largely a research desiderate. Networks exist at the transnational, European, national, regional, and local level and can be distinguished according to their macropolitical or domain-specific scope.
