INTRODUCTION Much of the debate on governance is either concerned with the question of conceptua- lization in relation to different theoretical traditions (see the previous chapters of the Handbook) or with the characterization of modes of governance often centred on networks. This chapter, by contrast, deals with the ways through which governance is operation- alized, i.e to come back to classic questions associated with governance and government alike: not just who governs but how govern- ments and various actors involved in govern- ance processes operate. This is not a new idea. Foucault, in particular, made the point about the importance of governmental activi- ties to understanding change of governmen- tality and the theme was central for N. Rose and P. Miller when they started their long- term research project on governmentatility. However, to raise this issue is to underline that the governance research agenda is his- torically related to the 1970s research about public policy failures, which is well repre- sented by the work of Pressman and Wildavsky (1973). The question was whether complex societies were becoming ungovern- able or if, at the very least, governments were less and less able to govern society through the administration, taxes and laws. Ever since, this debate has led to a dynamic governance research domain organized around the following questions: • Can government govern, steer or row (Peters, 1997) • Do governments always govern? • What do they govern, and how? • What is not governed? • Can we identify dysfunctions of governments over time? • Can groups or sectors escape from governments (Mayntz, 1993)? • Who governs when governments do not govern (Favre, 2005)? • Can governance replace government or will governance failure replace government failures (Jessop, 2003)? • How does government and governance operate? • What does it mean to govern complex societies (Peters and Pierre, 2005)? As shown in this Handbook, governance can be defined in different ways but a dis- tinctive line of research has made close links with public policy implementation. Government failures and public policy fail- ures have been associated both with the limits of governmental actors in a context characterized by myriads of actors operating 10 Policy Instruments and Governance Patrick Le Galès 5419-Bevir-Chap-10.indd 1 5419-Bevir-Chap-10.indd 1 6/3/2010 2:42:51 PM 6/3/2010 2:42:51 PM