Framing Metagovernance in the Context of Developing Democracies: An Institutionalist Viewpoint

Abstract

Metagovernance has traditionally been evolving as an effective mode of governance in developed democracies for states or governments to legitimately steer and coordinate stakeholder governance across jurisdictions. This article extend this work to understand the application of metagovernance in the context of developing democracies. Using an institutionalist viewpoint, the article explores the conceptual and empirical bases of metagovernance, drawing from the political science and political economy literature on developing economies to explain how political institutions can shape the state capacity to metagovern socio-economic activities in developing democracies. This article finds that the state capacity to metagovern can be challenged by weak democratic political practices.