LOCAL MANAGEMENT NETWORKS AS A FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article determines that in many countries the challenges of sustainable development are solved by creating new institutional structures that form inter-organizational management networks, which are corporations of public actors representing different sectors and levels of government, as well as private actors. Such networks should contribute to the implementation of coordinated actions, which are necessary to solve the problems of sustainable development in certain areas. It is noted that the concept of sustainable development is based on three pillars: social, economic and ecological. But the institutions necessary to ensure sustainable development can be considered as its fourth pillar. Local management networks are one of such institutions. It is necessary to involve subjects who have certain resources or otherwise contribute to the solution of the relevant problems in the management of the network. In addition, there is a need to consider the interests of all stakeholders in order to achieve legitimacy. This is quite natural, but there are two challenges that must be taken into account. First, it is a challenge to involve all powerful actors in situations of asymmetric distribution of interdependencies, which leads to the fact that some of them will not consider the implementation of real cooperation in their interests.
Second, it is a challenge caused by an asymmetric distribution of interests, where commercial resource extraction interests prevail among local private actors and local governments, who are also important resource owners, and environmental conservation interests prevail among external stakeholders, who are also stakeholders. Sustainable development policy crosses the boundaries of political sectors as well as the boundaries between the public and private sectors, i.e. sustainable development is cross-functional. It also crosses the boundaries of territorial jurisdictions, whether local, regional or national. So, the sustainable development goals are at the intersection of different jurisdictions, different sectors of governance, and different levels of governance. Thus, the realization of these goals represents a significant challenge for the coordination and integration of the actions of many actors, accordingly, it is necessary to create complex institutional structures such as management networks.