Belgeo, 3 | 2002

The paper examines the character of multipurpose territorial government and explores themeaning of frequent calls for more flexibility in the structures and functioning of local andregional governments. The paper elaborates on a number of starting points of debate concernedwith the shift from territorial government to territorial governance. Configurations of territorialgovernance are operating within a broader and more diverse range of factors at both local andregional levels. These include non-elected agencies of the state, private businesses, voluntaryorganisations, the mass media, and EU institutions. Situations of diffused accountability arisefrom continuing interactions between network partners, exchange of resources and negotiationof shared purposes, and they constrain the field of democratic accountability. Importantly, oneof the key characteristics of the shift from government to governance is claimed to be increasedflexibility and responsiveness, in both the functioning and the structure of territorialgovernment. Finally, building on the foregoing, the paper emphasises the issue of public interestformation and aggregation, and the adverse impacts of the fragmentation on the integrativeterritorial competence of multipurpose governments. The critical assessment provided shows that the notion of flexibility appears to refer to the capability to react to unpredictable futuredevelopments by enlargement of management capacity through new steering and decision-making rules. Correspondingly, flexibility does not necessarily refer to changing the existingorganisational structures of territorial self-government and administration but primarily toadaptations of their mode of functioning and, therefore, to increasing flexibility of rules andapproaches. Het artikel onderzoekt de aard van integraal territoriaal bestuur en gaat de betekenis na van deroep naar meer flexibiliteit in de structuren en het functioneren van lokale en regionalebesturen. Het neemt een aantal vertrekpunten van de discussies over de verschuiving vanterritoriaal bestuur naar territoriale governance onder de loep. Configuraties van territorialegovernance zijn werkzaam binnen een breder en losser verband van actoren op lokale enregionale niveaus zoals niet-verkozen overheidsorganen, privé ondernemingen,vrijwilligersorganisaties, massamedia of Europese instellingen. Voortdurende interacties tussennetwerkpartners, uitwisseling van hulpmiddelen en onderhandelingen over gedeeldedoelstellingen leiden tot situaties van diffuse verantwoordelijkheid en beperken het veld vandemocratische aansprakelijkheid. Cruciaal is de bewering dat toenemende flexibiliteit enversneld reactievermogen zowel inzake het functioneren als inzake de structuur van territoriaalTerritorial government and flexibility: a critical assessment Belgeo, 3 | 200215