Comments on ‘Democratic governance’

The article provides a discussion of Mark Bevir's important book on ‘Democratic governance’. It first discusses the conceptual part and in particular the categorisation in terms of ‘modern social science’. It disputes the analysis of neo institutionalism. Second, it stresses the UK case, which is the base of Bevir's analysis and suggests that the author relies far too much on policy networks. Hierarchies are still very strong at the same time in the United Kingdom, a factor that limits the claims of the book.