Network Governance and Environmental Management: Conflict and Cooperation

In this article we propose structural preconditions for effective network governance, including network structures that can facilitate effective coordination of action (such as relational and structural embeddedness), and agreement among network actors about goals and actions. We illustrate circumstances in which these preconditions do not seem to be met through a case study of environmental governance of a major water resource – the Swan River in Western Australia. This governance system, since changed by legislation, did not exhibit embeddedness among its constituent organizations, and crucial relations involved contestation, with organizations apparently pursuing different goals. This paper demonstrates how advanced social network methods can be used to analyse a networked governance system.