This study aims to disentangle the concept of meta-governance by systematically reviewing 79 articles. By investigating the who, what, why, and how of metagovernance, this article paints a detailed picture of its empirical manifestation. We conclude that the literature could benefit from better conceptualization and operationalization. From the results, we define meta-governance as 'a practice by (mainly) public authorities that entails the coordination of one or more governance modes by using different instruments, methods, and strategies to overcome governance failures.' Metagovernance therefore goes beyond the unproductive dichotomy in the 'from government to governance' debate.