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Collaboration has become an imperative of many new healthcare policies; however, little attention has been paid to how system-level narratives in both policy documents and the media create boundaries that shape implementation processes. By using boundary work as a theoretical lens, this article critically analyses the discourse found in both policy documents and the media surrounding the 2015 Dutch LTC reform. This discourse analysis contributes, first, by revealing two separate narratives – one epic, one tragic – which we argue represent different rhetorical styles used to (de-)legitimise symbolic boundaries. Second, we contribute by unravelling boundary work in both the social and symbolic dimensions to show how the design of the 2015 reform led to a tension-ridden position for local actors: symbolic boundaries demanded integration, while social boundaries imposed differentiation. These findings have implications for literature on boundary work as well as for policy design and its local implementation.

Although network governance has become increasingly popular in both research and practice, its anticipated benefits do not always materialize. Although literature on network governance acknowledges the challenges that result from its introduction, scholars tend to assume these challenges can be managed and rarely analyze how the different participating actors (strategically) react to the tensions surrounding its establishment. As such, the process of how "networking" actors establish, maintain, and negotiate a network remains understudied. In light of these shortcomings, this article zooms in on how actors, in their collaboration efforts with network partners, navigate the tensions between (a) their discretionary space and the parameters set by a central policymaker, and (b) their pursuit of both integration and differentiation. This ethnographic case analysis contributes by, first, revealing how local actors demonstrate agency in maneuvering between these tensions in everyday practice by adopting three strategies—that is, overwhelmed deflection, situational segmentation, and strategic reappropriation—and, second, by revealing how these tensions interact and subsequently affect the implementation of policies in networks.

Although network governance has become increasingly popular in both research and practice, its anticipated benefits do not always materialize. Although literature on network governance acknowledges the challenges that result from its introduction, scholars tend to assume these challenges can be managed and rarely analyze how the different participating actors (strategically) react to the tensions surrounding its establishment. As such, the process of how "networking" actors establish, maintain, and negotiate a network remains understudied. In light of these shortcomings, this article zooms in on how actors, in their collaboration efforts with network partners, navigate the tensions between (a) their discretionary space and the parameters set by a central policymaker, and (b) their pursuit of both integration and differentiation. This ethnographic case analysis contributes by, first, revealing how local actors demonstrate agency in maneuvering between these tensions in everyday practice by adopting three strategies—that is, overwhelmed deflection, situational segmentation, and strategic reappropriation—and, second, by revealing how these tensions interact and subsequently affect the implementation of policies in networks.