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Networks and networking are viewed as ways of dealing with complex problems that beset both the state and society. Homelessness, health care, and crime are all viewed as problems that networks can manage better than single organizations can. This article views these problems as networks that must be confronted if Western democracies wish to deal with terrorism, drug smuggling, and the manifold pathologies that confront failed states. In this article we adopt the perspective of networks as problems.

The majority of the literature on networks and collaboration is quite positive. Collaborative networks are seen as appropriate devices to tackle public management problems and successfully coordinate political, social, and economic action. From the level of global governance, European integration, sectoral policy networks at the national level, and service implementation networks at the local level, these …