Leadership, Governance and Legitimacy at an Intermediate Government Level: The Case of Belgian Governors

摘要

This article tries to analyse the impact of some important changes in recent decades on the context in which Belgian governors function. On the one hand we can observe an internal shift in legislation, strengthening the democratic control and executive power of the elected politicians, while on the other hand there is the alleged external shift towards network policy and multi-level governance. At first sight the internal change seems to indicate a loss of (formal) power, illustrated by the fact that the governors lost their voting rights in 1997 and even lost the position of chairman in the Walloon provinces in 2004. But when we take a closer view, the institutional changes seem to have induced a shift in the selection process, as the political profile of the (recently) nominated governors is more pronounced. Moreover, our research indicates an important leadership role for governors brought about through the complex interactions of formal and informal structures at the intermediate government level. Governors play their leadership role by focusing on partnerships as a means to achieve the goals of a particular public policy.