This article starts from Sørensen and Torfing's (2004) notion that the field of network governance is `somewhat eclectic and confusing' and that it lacks a sound ontological foundation. I will argue that the lack of a proper conceptualization of intermediate-scale entities such as interpersonal networks, organizations or social movements in network governance hampers the introduction of post-liberal concepts of democracy into network governance. In the second part of the article I introduce DeLanda's theory of social complexity, which is a development of DeuleuzoGuattarian Assemblage Theory. I propose it as an ontological foundation for network governance research. Assemblage theory connects to concepts of minor and major politics. In the third part of the article I present a concept of `minor governance' in order to revisit democratic network governance.
Albrechts, L. (1999) `Planners as Catalysts and Initiators of Change. The New Structure Plan for Flanders', European Planning Studies7(5): 587-604.
2.
Albrechts, L. and Mandelbaum, S. (2006) The Network Society: The New Context for Planning . London: Routledge.
3.
Amin, A. (2004) `Region Unbound: Towards a New Politics of Place' , Gegrafisker Annaler86(B): 33-44.
4.
Belliger, A. and Krieger, D.J. (eds) (2006) ANThology. Ein einführendes Handbuch zur Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie. Bielefeld: Transcript.
5.
Bourdieu, P. (1979) La distinction. Critique sociale du jugement. Paris: De Minuit.
6.
Campbell, H. (2003) `Interface. Reforming Planning Systems', Planning Theory & Practice4(3): 347-70.
7.
Chia, R. (1999) `A "Rhizomic" Model of Organizational Change and Transformation: Perspectives from a Metaphysics of Change', British Journal of Management10: 209-27.
8.
Colebrook, C. (2002) Gilles Deleuze. New York: Routledge.
9.
Conolly, W. (1995) The Ethos of Pluralization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
10.
DeLanda, M. (2002) Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy. London: Continuum.
11.
DeLanda, M. (2006a) `Deleuzian Social Ontology and Assemblage Theory' , in M. Fugslang and B. Meier Sorensen (eds) Deleuze Connections , pp. 250-66. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
12.
DeLanda, M. (2006b) A New Philosophy of Society. Assemblage Theory and Social Complexity. London: Continuum.
13.
DeLanda, M. (2006c) `Virtual Environments and the Emergence of Synthetic Reason', available online at: [http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/delanda.htm ], accessed 10 June 2007.
14.
DeLanda, M. (no date) `Deleuze and the Open-Ended Becoming of the World', available online at: [http://www.cddc.vt.edu/host/delanda/pages/becoming.htm ], accessed 28 September 2006.
15.
Deleuze, G. (1991) Empiricism and Subjectivity. New York: Columbia Press.
16.
Deleuze, G. (1994) Diffference and Repetition. London: Continuum.
17.
Deleuze, G. (1995) Negotiations: 1972-1990. L'Abécédaire de Gilles Deleuze avec Claire Parnet. Paris: Editions Montparnasse.
18.
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1983) Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press .
19.
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1987) A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schitsphrenia . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
20.
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1994) What Is Philosophy?New York : Columbia Press.
21.
Deleuze, G. and Parnet, C. (2002) Dialogues II. New York: Columbia Press.
22.
Douglas, M. (1966) Purity and Danger. London: Routledge.
23.
Dryzek, J.S. (2000) Deliberative Democracy and Beyond. Liberals, Critics, Contestations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
24.
Giddens,A. (1984) The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.
25.
Gray, J. (1996) Post-liberalism: Studies in Political Thought. London: Routledge.
26.
Healey, P. (2004a) `Relational Complexity and the Imaginative Power of Strategic Spatial Planning', European Planning Studies14(4): 525-46.
27.
Healey, P. (2004b) `Creativity and Urban Governance', Policy Studies25(2): 87-102.
28.
Healey, P. (2006a) `Network Complexity and the Imaginative Power of Strategic Spatial Planning', in L. Albrechts and S. Mandelbaum (eds) The Network Society: The New Context for Planning, 146-60. London: Routledge.
29.
Healey, P. (2006b) Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies: Towards a Relational Planning for Our Times. London: Routledge.
30.
Heinelt, H. and Kübler, D. (eds) (2005) Metropolitan Governance: Capacity, Democracy and the Dynamics of Place. London: Routledge.
31.
Hillier, J. (2005) `Straddling the Post-Structuralist Abyss: Between Transcendence and Immanence?', Planning Theory4(3): 271-99.
32.
Hillier, J. (2006) `Local Planning in Times of Change: Space, Integration & Inclusion', paper at New Zealand Planning Institute & Planning Institute Australia Congress.
33.
Jessop, B. (1997) `Capitalism and Its Future: Remarks on Regulation, Government and Governance', Review of International Political Economy4(3): 561-81.
34.
Kennedy, J.G. (1978) Herbert Spencer. Boston, MA : Twayne.
35.
Landry, C. (2000) The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators . London: Earthscan.
36.
Law, J. (2000) `Networks, Relations, Cyborgs: On the Social Study of Technology', available online at: [http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/papers/Law-Networks-Relations-Cyborgs.pdf], accessed 26 April 2007
37.
Law, J. and Urry, J. (2004) `Enacting the Social', Economy and Society33(3): 390-410.
38.
Massey, D. (2005) For Space. London: SAGE.
39.
Massumi, B. (2002) Parables of the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation . Durham, NC: Duke University Press .
40.
Mayntz, R. (1999) `New Challenges to Governance Theory'. Paper. Max-Plank Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung.
41.
Message, K. (2005) `Stratification', in A. Parr (ed.) The Deleuze Dictionary, pp. 266-8. Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press.
42.
Mouffe, C. (1993) The Return of the Political. London: Verso.
43.
Mouffe, C. (2000) The Democratic Paradox. London : Verso.
44.
Moulaert, F. and Sekia, F. (2003) `Territorial Innovation Models: A Critical Survey' , Regional Studies37(3): 289-302.
45.
NN (2006) `Gilles Deleuze' , available online at: [www.iep.utm.edu/d/deleuze.htm ], accessed 8 August 2006.
46.
Parr, A. (2005) `Deterritorialisation/Reterritorialisation', in A. Parr (ed.) The Deleuze Dictionary, pp. 66-9. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
47.
Patton, P. (2005) `Deleuze and Democracy', Contemporary Political Theory4: 400-13.
48.
Patton, P. (2006) `Order, Exteriority and Flat Multiplicities in the Social', in M. Fugslang and B. Meier Sorensen (eds) Deleuze and the Social, pp. 21-38. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
49.
Phillips, J. (2006) `Agencement/Assemblage', Theory, Culture & Society23(1-2): 108-9.
50.
Pickering, M. (1993) Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
51.
Roffe, J. (2005) `Exteriority/Interiority', in A. Parr (ed.) The Deleuze Dictionary, 94-6. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
52.
Scharpf, F. (1997) Games Real Actors Play: Actor Centred Institutionalism in Policy Research. Oxford: West View Point.
53.
Sørensen, E. and Torfing, J. (2004) `Making Governance Networks Democratic', Working Paper Series, Centre for Democratic Network Governance , 2004(1), available online at: [www.ruc.dk/demnetgov_en/working_papers/Working_Paper_2004_1.pdf/ ], accessed 15 May 2006.
54.
Tang, W.-S. (2005) `Cities in China: A Review of Urban Studies', paper presented at the European Science Foundation `Forward Look on Urban Science: Final Conference', Helsinki, Finland, 26-28 May.
55.
Thierstein, A. (2006) Raumentwicklung im Verborgenen. Zürich: NZZ Verlag.
56.
Thoburn, N. (no date) `Deleuze, Marx and Politics. Chapter Two: Minor politics: The Style of Cramped Creation', available online at: [ http://libcom.org/library/deleuze-marx-politics-nicholas-thoburn-intro], accessed 15 October 2006.
57.
Thrift, N. (1996) Spatial Formations. London: SAGE.
58.
Thrift, N. (1999) `The Place of Complexity', Theory, Culture & Society16(3): 31-69.
59.
Torfing, J., Sørensen, E. and Piel Christensen, L. (2004) `Nine Competing Definitions of Governance, Governance Networks and Meta-Governance', Working Paper Series, Centre for Democratic Network Governance, 2003 (1), available online at: [http://www.ruc.dk/demnetgov_en/working_papers/Working_Paper_2003_1.pdf/ ], accessed 21 April 2006.
60.
Tormey, S. (2006) `"Not in My Name": Deleuze, Zapatismo and the Critique of Representation', Parliamentary Affairs1: 138-54.
61.
Van Wezemael, J.E. (2006) `Evaluation of Community Involvement Strategies in Spatial Decision-making in Newcastle upon Tyne', Newcastle City Council, confidential and unpublished.
62.
Venn, C. (2006) `A Note on Assemblage', Theory, Culture & Society23(1-2): 107-8.
