Subnetworks
Services of General Interest - SGI
The main goal of the SGI research is to assess the ability of the new forms of organisation of public services to encourage responsiveness via contractual governance and to take into account the different representations of the public interest among the actors concerned. more...
Global Public Services and Common Goods - GPS
The state of the art in the literature on global commons shows the necessity to move towards hybrids modes of governance capable to create and implement appropriate institutions and arrangements between actors to effectively address the global commons on different levels of governance. Our research aims to move further and pay more attention to procedural requirements that can develop the capacities for a specific articulation between new strategies for regulation and the realisation of public interest. more...
Institutional Frames for Markets - IFM
The so-called “services of general interest” are increasingly provided to the public on a market basis through the “deregulation” process. It is therefore essential to understand how institutional frames have to be designed to incite private and competing providers to meet the general interest of the public. Besides, “markets” are increasingly regulated by self and private regulations designed by industrial partners, competitors and sometimes the final users. It is essential to better understand how the resulting private orders interact with the public one, and how the combination of public and private regulations allows to meet the general interest. more...
Corporate Governance in the Public Interest - CG
The competitiveness and sustainability of enterprises, ensuring that certain essential services are efficiently organized, and raising standards of environmental and social protection, all have relevance for corporate governance. This is because it is increasingly being recognized that the ownership and governance structure of the firm has potentially far-reaching implications for the effectiveness of policies which focus on the enterprise as the subject of regulation, all the more so in a context of liberalization and privatization which has occurred in services of general interest. In that sense, understanding how corporate governance works is central in attempts to articulate a clear notion of the “public interest” within social and economic regulation. more...
Fundamental Rights Governance - FR
The question this Sub-Network seeks to address is whether, in the present situation of the fundamental rights policy, fundamental rights may contribute effectively to the definition of the public interest in the Union, and if not, which mechanisms we ought to invent to make that contribution effective, and thus to ensure the mutual reinforcement of fundamental rights and the provision of services of general economic interest towards increased social and territorial cohesion. more...
Theory of the Norm Unit - TNU
The function of the Theory of the Norm Unit will be to investigate the theoretical implications of connecting the current perspectives on governance theory to the more epistemological reflections on their pre-conditions in the field of theory of action and theory of norm. more...
Cross Thematic Seminar - CTS
The mission of the Cross-Thematic seminar will be to ensure an integrated and consistent reflection on common theoretical questions considered by each sub-network in their specific research. It will provide a generic approach grounded on the link between theory of action and theory of governance and hence, will facilitate the adoption of a common language across the different sub-networks. Beyond this common language, it will help establish a common theoretical frame regarding the implementation of a “ reflexive governance ” modus, i.e. regarding its organisation principles and their modes of evaluation. more...