Challenges of Public Governance and Metagovernance:

from a theoretical-historical analysis to its application to the Portuguese case

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to present a critical review of the topics of public governance and metagovernance, as well as a reflection on the main challenges related to these domains in the Portuguese context. The relevance of this analysis stems from these themes being scarcely analysed in Portugal, both in theoretical and empirical terms. The article concludes that the context of public governance in Portugal is clearly hybrid, with a visible, not always peaceful, combination of influences from the Napoleonic administrative tradition and reformist ideas from the New Public Administration and the New Public Governance.