Why do collaborative governance reforms so often falter in non-Western states with deep administrative traditions? This article argues that while managerial practice is relevant, the primary cause of these shortcomings lies in macro-level institutional constraints that powerfully shape network outcomes. Through a qualitative case study of Indonesia's mandated State Safety Program (SSP), we trace the network's observed meso-level pathologies—a weak ad hoc hub and fragmentation—to their macro-level institutional origins. Our analysis identifies three primary constraining forces: path dependency stemming from macro-policy, the historical legacy of a siloed state, and friction from entrenched bureaucratic logics. The primary contribution of this research is to advance institutional theory by specifying a clear multi-level causal mechanism linking macro-level state institutional constraints to the network's meso-level structure and its micro-level procedural dysfunctions. We conclude that for collaborative governance to be effective, reform efforts must shift from improving micro-level behaviors to strategically targeting the fundamental institutional “rules of the game”. © 2025 Wiley Periodicals LLC.