Trust in Practice: Transgovernmental Networks and Comparative Regionalism

5 Oct

The study of transgovernmental networks (TGNs) offers a relatively innovative approach to the analysis of international relations and global governance. By exploring the role of these entities, which often operate beneath the radar of major geopolitical tensions between states and of the activities of major international organisations, we can offer a fresh perspective on how regionalism is being constructed today. In fact, regional integration is not built through treaties and high-level diplomacy alone. It also develops through the everyday cooperation of public authorities across national borders, involving also sharing their values and perspectives on policy formulation and implementation.

Transgovernmental networks (TGNs) bring this less visible dimension into focus. Although their study is not new (Anne-Marie Slaughter's A New World Order helped bring them to wider attention in 2004), they offer a valuable perspective on how regional governance is currently taking shape, beyond diplomatic negotiations and formal international organisations. We argue that TGNs, understood as practical relationships between public authorities, contribute to different trajectories of regional integration, and their role emerges as essential, but different, in each case.

How transgovernmental networks work

TGNs are forms of intergovernmental and international collective action based on links between administrative units, public agencies or groups of public officials across national borders. These links are generally strongly horizontal and direct. They may be organised around highly specialised functions or connect specific territorial units, such as cities or regions. Their structures vary considerably: sometimes these networks develop into informal international organisations, with their own secretariats and complex structures, but very often they take much simpler forms, based on basic coordination mechanisms.

We consider these networks particularly important for explaining how regional governance gradually takes shape, especially in today's world, where multipolar dynamics and the weakness of global rules grounded in international law make regional arenas increasingly relevant to the organisation of global governance. The development of common values thanks to these interactions is also a key contribution to regional integration.

TGNs have the capacity to coordinate, share information, develop common interpretations and work together without needing to exercise powers formally delegated and recognised by states. Their effectiveness rests largely on the close relationships that develop among participants, whose professional backgrounds are very similar and whose respective problems and challenges have much in common. In this respect, they also contribute to policy diffusion and the development of innovative good practices among their members.

Their origins also differ. Some emerge from initiatives taken by agencies or officials themselves. Others are created or supported by governments, regional institutions or international organisations seeking to facilitate cooperation. Bottom-up initiative and institutional sponsorship are therefore not mutually exclusive.

For comparative regionalism, the important question is not simply whether these networks eventually become formal organisations. It is also whether their everyday activities create durable relationships, shared practices and a capacity to address common problems, developing converging interpretations and values. Networks provide ways to move forward or overcome obstacles when states' positions and strategies, or disputes with their neighbours, hinder progress towards more institutionalised forms of regional integration. Europe, Latin America and Africa offer useful illustrations of how this can happen under different institutional conditions.

Europe: networks within a dense institutional framework

In Europe, transgovernmental cooperation has developed in close interaction with the European Union (EU). The EU, particularly the Commission, was the driving force behind the formation of European transgovernmental networks across numerous public policy areas and specialised sectors. These networks were established in most cases to facilitate the diffusion and coordination of the policies initially promoted by the EU.

Subsequently, they provided the basis for establishing European agencies in many fields, incorporating representatives of member states more formally. Yet this has not been a uniform progression from informal cooperation to formal organisation. As David Levi-Faur's research shows, agencies may replace networks, coexist with them, or organise networks of their own. National authorities remain important participants in these arrangements rather than simply being displaced by European bodies.

The European experience therefore suggests a mutually reinforcing relationship between networking and institution-building. Formal institutions can sustain cooperation, while networks help connect those institutions to national administrations. This is one route towards regional governance, but it should not be treated as the benchmark against which all others are judged.

Latin America: horizontal cooperation across a plural regional landscape

Latin America presents a different institutional setting. Rather than lacking regional organisations, it has a long history of multiple integration initiatives. However, no single regional organisation has prevailed or consolidated. Thus, in the absence of a region-wide international organisation leading the integration process, TGNs comprising national agencies and administrative units have gained considerable momentum.

They have often emerged spontaneously, but have also frequently been promoted by international organisations such as the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank. Professional communities associated with these networks and international organisations, as well as those connected to non-state actors involved in public policy, have been key to building integration processes based more on horizontal coordination, policy diffusion and the development of mutual trust.

Within this landscape, networks of public agencies can provide connections that extend beyond individual integration projects. Research on these networks highlights their role in connecting global regulatory standards with domestic implementation. They help national authorities obtain advice, share experience and interpret rules in light of local circumstances. Their contribution is thus not limited to transmitting policies from one level to another: they also create opportunities for horizontal collaboration among authorities facing comparable challenges.

From this perspective, regional integration can be understood partly as the accumulation of shared expertise, working relationships and mutual confidence. Such connections do not replace political agreements, but they offer another dimension through which to assess the depth and continuity of regional cooperation, even beyond formal international organisations.

Africa: connecting national authorities through regional initiatives

Finally, in Africa, we can observe an even greater role for large international organisations like the World Bank, alongside the subregional bodies that are particularly prominent in the region, in promoting the formation of transgovernmental networks. TGNs can operate more flexibly and connect more easily across subregions and linguistic communities, thereby contributing to public policy innovation across the region's states.

Medicines regulation provides a useful illustration. Launched in 2012, the East African Community's Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative brought national regulators together to develop common technical requirements and coordinate regulatory work. It combined initiatives from African authorities with support from organisations including the World Health Organization and the World Bank. Its activities included joint assessments, technical working groups and exchanges between agencies with different levels of experience. These arrangements were intended not only to improve procedures but also to build professional relationships and strengthen regulatory capacity.

For our comparison, this suggests that networks can help connect national officials with their peers across the region in a more flexible and direct form than the involvement of international organisations allows, enabling them to share experience and collaborate directly, while remaining in many cases closely related to those organisations, whether of subregional, regional or global scope.

Recognising integration in everyday practice

These examples suggest that TGNs are more than preliminary steps towards formal regional institutions. They may also constitute an important part of regional governance in their own right. Their significance lies in enabling authorities to work together, develop shared practices and convergent values, and maintain relationships across borders.

This does not mean that networks are automatically effective or inclusive. Unequal resources can give some participants greater influence, while informal working arrangements can create problems of transparency and public accountability, tensions on value interpretation can also emerge. Professional cooperation should therefore be assessed critically rather than assumed to produce better outcomes.

The broader implication is straightforward: to understand regionalism, we need to look beyond its treaties, summits and organisational structures. We also need to examine the everyday administrative relationships through which cooperation becomes possible. The question is not only whether regions are building stronger institutions, but also whether their public authorities are developing a stronger capacity to act together.

Selected references

Abbott, K. W., Kauffmann, C., & Lee, J.-R. (2018). The contribution of trans-governmental networks of regulators to international regulatory co-operation. OECD Regulatory Policy Working Papers, No. 10. OECD Publishing.

Jordana, J., Holesch, A., & Triviño-Salazar, J. C. (2022). Trans-governmental regulatory networks and the European Union’s involvement in global governance: an occasional instrument?. Journal of European Integration, 44(5), 677-693.

Jordana, J. (2017). Transgovernmental networks as regulatory intermediaries: Horizontal collaboration and the realities of soft power. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 670(1), 245–262.

Levi-Faur, D. (2011). Regulatory networks and regulatory agencification: Towards a Single European Regulatory Space. Journal of European Public Policy, 18(6), 810–829.

Sillo, H., et al. (2020). Coming together to improve access to medicines: The genesis of the East African Community’s Medicines Regulatory Harmonization initiative. PLOS Medicine, 17(8), e1003133.

Slaughter, A.-M. (2004). A New World Order. Princeton University Press.

Yesilkagit, K., & Jordana, J. (2022). Entangled agencies and embedded preferences: National Regulatory Agencies in multi-level European governance. Journal of European Public Policy, 29(10), 1677-1697.