Abstract

Networks have been at the forefront of public administration literature. In Latin America, the incorporation of the network perspective has been motivated by trends shaping the transformation of the state. Scholars in the region have examined how collaborative networks operate, emerge, and perform in different countries, addressing various governance dimensions and policy arenas. Latin American countries’ cultural, institutional, and historical characteristics impose challenges for the functioning of collaborative networks that should be incorporated into the regional research agenda to inform practitioners and decision-makers about how to make collaborative models more sustainable. By providing an overview of both the advances and challenges in this field, this chapter seeks to contribute to the contemporary debate about public administration in the region.