Looking Forward and Sideways: Trajectories of New Governance Theory

New governance has emerged as a novel paradigm to public problem solving, with scholars in the fields of politics, public administration and law analysing and debating it for over two decades. This article assesses the three major branches of this new governance literature and theorizing — normative, evaluative, and institutional. It questions how new governance as a theory has crystallized over the last 20 years, and recognizes some of the limitations in the literature that may direct future studies