European Journal zyxwvuts of Political Research zyxwvu 21: zyxwvu 181-205, zyxwvu 1992. zyxw 0 zyxw 1992 KIuwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. New directions in the study of policy networks R.A.W. RHODES’ & DAVID MARSH2 ’ University of York, York, England; University of Essex, Colchester, England Abstract. This paper is the product of a collaborative, comparative study of nine policy areas in British Government. It does not describe these several policy areas but summarises recent theoretical discussions in Britain of the concept of policy networks; provides a typology which encompasses the variety identified in the individual, detailed case studies; discusses a set of key problems in the analysis of networks; and identifies some directions for future research. Introduction This paper has four objectives. First, it summarises recent theoretical dis- cussions in Britain of the concepts of policy communities and policy networks. Second, it presents a typology of policy networks based upon both these recent theoretical discussions and a series of case studies of policy networks ‘in action’ in British government. Third, it addresses a series of crucial questions about the utility of the policy networks’ approach. Finally, it identifies some new directions for future research. The paper draws upon three major sources of empirical and theoretical work: The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research initiative into the relationship between central and local government in Britain, referred to here as the intergovernmental relations initiative (IGR) (Goldsmith and Rhodes, 1986); the ESRC research initiative into the relations between gov- ernment and industry (GIR) (Wilks, 1989); and the Nuffield Foundation’s workshop on the comparison of policy networks in British Government (Marsh and Rhodes, 1992). The IGR initiative The IGR initiative was strongly influenced by the organization theory litera- ture and its application to intergovernmental relations. Indeed, Rhodes (1981; see also SSRC, 1979) explicitly sets out to apply intergovernmental theory to British central-local relations. This literature tends to be state-centred rather than societal-centred and concentrates more upon the political structures within which relations between governments and interests occur, rather than