This paper introduces the concepts and ideas that frame this special issue on co-evolution in governance, and their implications for policy learning and adaptation. It offers a brief overview of co-evolutionary approaches to governance and their elementary connections with systems theories, post-structuralism, institutionalism, and actor-network theory, and explores how they are connected to co-evolution in governance. Co-evolutionary approaches differ from other influential understandings of knowledge and learning in policy and governance. It furthermore presents a typology of learning in governance and systematically discusses how each type is affected by patterns of coevolution in governance.

Van Assche, K., Beunen, R., Verweij, S., Evens, J. & Gruezmachter, M. (2021) Policy learning and adaptation in governance: a co-evolutionary perspective. Society & Administration, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00953997211059165