(Re)Defining the Disarticulated Municipality: Budget Accountability for Networked Governance

Abstract

This study investigates the degree to which municipalities engaged in public management networks use their budget documents to report their contributions, whether the network provides the member municipalities with performance data, and how budgetary decisions regarding the network are made within the member organizations and the network administrative organization itself. An analysis of network and member budget documents and a survey of network members shed light on the complex accountability issues and the role of budget documents and the budgeting process to support and enhance democratic accountability in a network context — which contribute to building collaborative governance regime theory.