The image of the network has captured the imagination of public policy scholars. Because public decision-making is so complex, researchers and commentators find that the network metaphor summarises many of the underlying features of the contemporary policy process. The network idea neatly suggests the manner in which powerful individuals, located in the maze of public and private organisations that govern a policy domain, such as health or public education, connect with each other. Bureaucrats, politicians, experts and interest group representatives usually discuss public problems and devise the means for their solution. They have common interests that lead them to co-operate and to share ideas. Over time these interactions and exchanges form networks of interrelationships and sets of common expectations. The argument is that these networks are generally bounded in some way and in part are separate from others. To an extent they are obscured from the public glare. Researchers generally ascribe to each network a set of relatively stable characteristics, such as types of exchanges and sets of values, that differ according to the sector in question, such as whether it is health, education or agriculture policy
