Modes of coordination and performance in polycentric governance: Disentangling complexity

Governance becomes ever more interconnected and multilevel. Polycentric governance has been developed as a lens to analyze this complexity. At an aggregate level, it raises the question as to whether multiple autonomous actors are able to coordinate across interdependent sectors, scales, and decision-making arenas. However, what factors shape polycentric governance in a particular social-ecological context, and what performance results from this governance, are unclear. Thus far, we do not have a systematic way to map the shape coordination adopts in polycentric governance. This volume develops and illustrates an approach to disentangle the hybridity of modes’ coordination in polycentric governance, its determinants, and outcomes, building on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. It is applied throughout five substantive chapters covering diverse cases of water, energy, infrastructure, and mining governance in the US, Switzerland, Mongolia, and Uganda. This inductive work results in the suggestion of context-dependent types of hybrids. The analytical approach, its ontological underpinnings, and its methodological implications are further reflected in two chapters suggesting alternative perspectives on the analysis of hybrids.