ABSTRACT
Although the configurational approach and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) are relatively new methods in public network research, their philosophy is already present in one well-known research study and can be found in many other works. We go back to the origin of the configurational approach and of the QCA method and show how to implement a public network study on its basis; this is followed by a review of the main public network studies adopting QCA. The concluding part of the chapter provides some insights about the value-added nature of the QCA method for network research and its potential in future research.
