Chapter 4 focuses on the analysis of different concept in order to find a typology of ideal-type approaches to governance. The authors not only focuse on key concepts of each approach, but include concrete examples. Typologies are used in empirical analysis that compares evidence against the ideal-types in order to draw critical or affirmational conclusions. It is important to note that ideal-types are intentionally caricatured simplifications of the complexity of actual experience or particular perspectives. The concept of governance is also properly studied and defined. By governance, the authors mean all of the practices, from formal rules and institutions down to unstructured everyday interactions, used to organize collective action in any societal context. Because the political and administrative reflect different aspects of governance, both must be included in a typology and examined separately. According to the authors, if we consider the combination of individual and societal levels of analysis, it makes sense to use sociologist Max Weber's ideal-type method in its construction. What is interesting is also that the authors propose the basis for a fifth ideal-type based on dialectical synthesis of the four approaches. With a Governance Typology in hand, the authors try to use the characteristics of the ideal-types to uncover the ontological assumptions at play in governance theories and case studies. Given the value of theoretical frameworks to sense making and knowledge building, we construct a framework that endeavors to meet the criteria of significant focus, organizing capacity, and coherency. Governance is a social phenomenon that includes both actors and institutions.
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