An Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance

TLDR

Collaborative governance draws from diverse realms of practice and research in public administration. The article synthesizes and extends conceptual frameworks, research findings, and practice‑based knowledge into an integrative framework for collaborative governance, presenting ten propositions on dynamic interactions and implications for theory, research, evaluation, and practice. The framework outlines nested dimensions—system context, governance regime, and internal dynamics—providing a conceptual map for cross‑boundary governance from intergovernmental cooperation to public‑private partnerships, integrating incentives, barriers, social learning, conflict resolution, and institutional arrangements, and is applicable across scales and policy arenas. The article presents ten propositions on dynamic interactions within the framework and discusses its implications for theory, research, evaluation, and practice.

Abstract

Collaborative governance draws from diverse realms of practice and research in public administration. This article synthesizes and extends a suite of conceptual frameworks, research findings, and practice-based knowledge into an integrative framework for collaborative governance. The framework specifies a set of nested dimensions that encompass a larger system context, a collaborative governance regime, and its internal collaborative dynamics and actions that can generate impacts and adaptations across the systems. The framework provides a broad conceptual map for situating and exploring components of cross-boundary governance systems that range from policy or program-based intergovernmental cooperation to place-based regional collaboration with nongovernmental stakeholders to public-private partnerships. The framework integrates knowledge about individual incentives and barriers to collection action, collaborative social learning and conflict resolution processes, and institutional arrangements for cross-boundary collaboration. It is presented as a general framework that might be applied to analyses at different scales, in different policy arenas, and varying levels of complexity. The article also offers 10 propositions about the dynamic interactions among components within the framework and concludes with a discussion about the implications of the framework for theory, research, evaluation, and practice.