Avoiding further aggravation of the consequences of global environmental change remains a complex governance challenge. Social relational structure among actors plays a key role for enhancing the capacity of collaborative approaches to environmental governance. We present an encompassing conceptual framework to advance understanding of the mechanisms that shape dynamics in environmental governance entities. Narrative theory is integrated with insights on group dynamics grounded in social network theory to contextualize local social complexities in governance processes. We assume that social relational structure between actors, and narrations they tell, co-produce narratives and dynamics at the group level. Three important mechanisms that influence dynamics are described: (1) the interplay between collaborative relationships and narrative congruence between individual actors, (2) the characteristics of actors, and (3) the actors’ embeddedness in the wider social structure. A set of testable hypotheses on the interplay between narration, narratives and social relational structure in environmental governance processes is presented. We conclude by discussing why we regard this framework useful to study local and regional governance entities in the context of addressing global environmental change.

避免全球环境变化的后果进一步恶化仍然是一项复杂的治理挑战。行为者之间的社会关系结构对于提高环境治理协作方法的能力起着关键作用。我们提出了一个包罗万象的概念框架，以促进对塑造环境治理实体动态的机制的理解。叙事理论与基于社会网络理论的关于群体动态的见解相结合，以将当地社会复杂性置于治理过程中。我们假设演员之间的社会关系结构以及他们讲述的叙述共同产生了群体层面的叙述和动态。描述了影响动力学的三个重要机制：(1) 个体行动者之间的协作关系和叙事一致性之间的相互作用，(2) 行动者的特征，以及 (3) 行动者在更广泛的社会结构中的嵌入。提出了一组关于环境治理过程中叙述、叙述和社会关系结构之间相互作用的可检验假设。我们最后讨论了为什么我们认为这个框架有助于在解决全球环境变化的背景下研究地方和区域治理实体。