Although network governance has become increasingly popular in both research and practice, its anticipated benefits do not always materialize. Although literature on network governance acknowledges the challenges that result from its introduction, scholars tend to assume these challenges can be managed and rarely analyze how the different participating actors (strategically) react to the tensions surrounding its establishment. As such, the process of how “networking” actors establish, maintain, and negotiate a network remains understudied. In light of these shortcomings, this article zooms in on how actors, in their collaboration efforts with network partners, navigate the tensions between (a) their discretionary space and the parameters set by a central policymaker, and (b) their pursuit of both integration and differentiation. This ethnographic case analysis contributes by, first, revealing how local actors demonstrate agency in maneuvering between these tensions in everyday practice by adopting three strategies—that is, overwhelmed deflection, situational segmentation, and strategic reappropriation—and, second, by revealing how these tensions interact and subsequently affect the implementation of policies in networks.

尽管网络治理在研究和实践中越来越受欢迎，但其预期收益并不总是实现。尽管关于网络治理的文献承认其引入带来的挑战，但学者们倾向于假设这些挑战是可以管理的，并且很少分析不同的参与主体如何（战略上）应对围绕其建立的紧张局势。因此，“网络”参与者如何建立、维护和协商网络的过程仍未得到充分研究。鉴于这些缺点，本文重点介绍了参与者在与网络合作伙伴的合作中如何应对 (a) 他们的自由裁量空间和中央决策者设定的参数之间的紧张关系，以及 (b) 他们对两者整合的追求和分化。