Acceso usuarios
The aim of the article is to clarify some theoretical and methodological problems raised by the governance approach. Firstly, the question of whether this approach has gained a fully understood theoretical status is explored. The author objects that the governance theory is not really a scientific theory. There is not any acknowledged definition of the concept of governance, nor any clear explanatory model based on a set of testable variables. Secondly, some concerns are expressed about the originality of the governance approach. Most of the phenomena tackled by the adepts of the governance approach are not genuinely new. Thirdly, assuming that the governance approach is a scientific theory and that it is disclosing a new frontier of knowledge, it would be nonetheless questionable whether its heuristic is of any validity. Fourthly, in spite of all its flaws, some suggestions are put forward in order to explain why the governance approach is currently so successful.
