Permanently provisional: An ethnographic analysis of responsive governance practices in and through meetings

Abstract

Abstract Scholars of responsive forms of governance tend to analyze agreements, arrangements, and architectures. Yet, these forms of governance also require actual actors to act and interact, something that has been scarcely empirically studied. Taking a practice‐theoretical approach, I explore how responsive governance is accomplished in and through meetings. This study is based on participant observation, interviews, and document analysis of governance of child and family services in the Netherlands. It contributes to our current understanding of responsive forms of governance by situating its everyday practice in meetings. A second contribution can be found in the thorough analysis of its everyday practices, with actors continuously calibrating tasks, performance, scope, and authority. Third, this study develops an understanding of how practices of responsive governance relate to structural governance arrangements, exposing how structural contours can be challenged and changed, while other actions result in changes that remain invisible.

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