Collaboration Processes and Institutional Structure: Reexamining the Black Box

Building on previous models of collaboration processes, this article expands and revises the antecedent-process-outcome framework used to explain collaboration. The article discusses why this framework needs to be expanded to include the element of institutional structure. We propose a modified framework to explain collaboration that includes a typology of citizen-based, agency-based, and mixed partnerships. Furthermore, the article draws from the expansive body of literature on watershed collaboration to propose additional antecedents that influence institutional structures and, in turn, alter the process patterns in the collaboration “black box.”     

eGovernment

Abstract

This article gives an overview of policies and progress on eGovernment in Europe. Propelled by the implementation of the eEurope 2002 Action Plan, collaborative R&D work and the establishment of trans-European telematic networks between EU national administrations, eGovernment applications have developed dramatically in Europe. However, the first achievements will not fulfil their promises if further challenges are not addressed by the decision makers at all levels of government. Top-level leadership and commitment is necessary to deepen eGovernment, not least for the change management needed for reorganisation of government back offices. The transfer of eBusiness practices into the public sector can help to achieve increased productivity and inclusion, by ensuring access for all to government eServices. The Brussels eGovernment Conference in November 2001 highlighted both the quality of existing eGovernment applications and the potential of European cooperation. European administrations are setting new standards as a basis for further progress.     

Assessing problematic research: How can academic researchers help improve the quality of anti-crime program evaluations?

In this essay I examine some of the problems that prompted the National Research Council (NRC) report and consider how academic researchers might help resolve them. Many of the problems were found to be associated with research designed to assess program effects on child victimization and violence against women, areas in which research participation by subjects is particularly burdensome and difficult to obtain. Yet, program evaluations often assume that the process of subject participation is well understood and that outcome measures are reliable and valid across all subjects. A multidisciplinary, comprehensive and systematic review of victimization programs and past research is needed to advance the rigor of future evaluations. However, academics should not insist that all victim service programs warrant program evaluation as a condition of continued public support, because the decision to retain a program inevitably involves more than a scientific estimate of its effect.

Governance within public–private partnerships and the politics of urban development

Public-private partnerships are the preferred vehicles for the planning, financing and implementation of contemporary urban development. Scholarship on public-private partnerships tends to examine their activities in advancing development. Less attention is accorded to their internal dynamics or governance. While partnerships are intended to build internal consensus and obtain consent in order to carry out urban development, this premise assumes that coordinated public and private interests are in play. This paper examines the internal governance of two public-private partnerships in Rochester, New along three dimensions: conformity to a collective purpose or vision, leadership structure and organizational style.     

National Varieties of Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs): A Comparative Analysis of PPP-Supporting Units in 19 European Countries

Most countries that have adopted the public–private partnership (PPP) model as a means of implementing infrastructure projects have launched dedicated supporting units to guide policy development and stimulate project implementation. This paper draws on the theoretical notion of PPP-enabling fields to carry out a comparative analysis of the roles and functions of PPP-supporting units across 19 European countries with varying PPP experiences. We distinguish four categories of national support of PPPs, from skeptical systems of zero support to full-fledged PPP systems. Furthermore, we take initial steps to analyze the possible link between national differences in institutionalized PPP support and the amount of implemented PPP projects. Finally, pathways for further research on PPP-supporting units are discussed.     

The experience of civil partnership dissolution: not ‘just like divorce’

Between 2012 and 2014 I interviewed some of the earliest civil partners to dissolve their partnerships about their experience of dissolution. When I presented my findings, most family lawyers responded that dissolution was ‘pretty much like divorce’. And so it was, in many respects; but I thought that such comments missed an important difference. This article focuses on the legal understandings of gays and lesbians who have undergone dissolution of their civil partnerships, and on their experiences of it. This seemed to me significant for three reasons. First, the experiences of lesbians and gay men have historically been marginalised, pathologised or absent from legal accounts and the dominant legal consciousness. In this research they would be put centre-stage. Second, the institution of civil partnership – transient though it may turn out to be – deserves study as the point of entry into legal recognition and regulation of same-sex couples’ relationships in the UK. And, third, it is this precise history that makes it different from marriage, and dissolution different from divorce, whatever the similarities in legal treatment.     

公私合作行为的行政法实证分析——以“治安承包”为中心考察

现代行政国家行政任务不断增加,行政机关为完成行政任务,不得不同私人部门合作,公私合作兴起。公私合作行为是弥补公私合作背景下传统行政行为形式的不足而孕育产生的一种新型行政行为,主要体现为行政契约和私法上的契约。通过对"治安承包"这种典型的公私合作行为形式进行行政法实证分析,以期考察公私合作行为的法律形式。     

Do Partners in PPPs view Public and Private Management Differently?

Differences between public and private management have been studied extensively by comparing sectors, but not within cross‐sectoral collaborative arrangements. As participants in such arrangements have actually experienced both management styles, examining their perceptions of how these styles differ may contribute innovatively to existing literature. This paper compares such perceptions between public and private sector project members (N = 63) involved in four PPPs in the Netherlands. We assess (1) to what extent and under which conditions these project members view public and private management differently and (2) how they evaluate these differences. By triangulating quantitative and qualitative interview data, we examine Boyne's classical hypotheses and find that more than two‐thirds of the statements making reference to these hypotheses offer support for them; more so, the vast majority of such statements evaluate sectoral differences negatively. Intriguingly, type of PPP is a stronger determinant of perceived differences than the manager's sector of origin.     

Are same-sex relationships anti-family?: Investigating relationship stability among interracial gay partners in South Africa

One of the main heteronormative beliefs, especially in South Africa, is that same-sex partners do not enjoy stable relationships and that their relationships are often consciously short-term and lack enduring forms of commitment. The last three decades have witnessed the production of some studies (mostly in Europe and America) on same-sex intimate relationships and familial arrangements. Most of these studies compared same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Past studies found some similarities between love and satisfaction in heterosexual and same-sex intimate relationships. In this regard, this study examined relationships stability and satisfaction ingredients among interracial gay partners living in selected Johannesburg suburbs. This study is based on an eight-month qualitative study among 10 interracial gay partners living in some selected Johannesburg suburbs. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from 10 interracial gay men (comprising 20 men who are between 23 and 58 years at the time of the research) in intimate relationships. This study finds that relationship stability and satisfaction was linked to effective communication, trust and equity as the main elements of the interracial gay partnerships. Gay men in this study have similar desires for close intimate bonds and stable households – and adopt numerous resilience strategies to ensure that these relationships remain intact. This contradicts the general stereotype that gay men are anti-family and averse to monogamy. In line with the exchange theory, participants’ exchange of intangible resources, such as trust and effective communication, are associated with their satisfaction and relationship stability.     

Critiquing Food Security Inter‐governmental Partnership Approaches in Victoria,Australia

Food security is an issue, not only in developing countries but also in developed economies such as Australia where people from vulnerable groups cannot access affordable and appropriate food on a daily basis. Agencies emphasise the need for collaborative approaches to such complex, multi‐sectoral challenges. This article analyses two inter‐governmental partnership approaches facilitating local government's response to food insecurity in 12 municipalities within the state of Victoria. We focus on the partnership approaches to collaboration, processes and structures, and collective outcomes. The comparative data analysis from in‐depth interviews and document analysis of project‐associated materials and municipal policies provides insight into the different partnership approaches. Results suggest that while strategically designed and focused inter‐governmental partnerships can build local government capacity to respond to food security, there are systemic, regulatory, and resource barriers in play. In conclusion, the implications of these findings for future inter‐governmental approaches to address complex challenges are considered.