An Exploration of Collaborative Government

DOI10.1177/095207679901400201
Published date01 April 1999
Date01 April 1999
AuthorAndrew Gray,Stephen Harrison
Subject MatterArticles
EDITORIAL
An
Exploration
of
Collaborative
Government
Andrew
Gray
University
of
Durham
Stephen
Harrison
University
of
Leeds
When
the
Labour
Party
was
elected
to
government
in
May
1997
it
made
claims
to
newness
as
a
political
party
and
as
a
form
of
governing.
One
such
claim
was
an
embracing
of
collaboration
as
a
way
of
joining
up
services
to
meet
community
and
individual
needs
more
coherently.
As
citizens
we
recognise
the
pathology
of
fragmented
government
and
as
providers
the
advantages
of
integrating
our
efforts.
After
two
years
there
has
been
a
variety
of
expression
of
this
conception
and
a
range
of
experiences
and
outcomes
to
witness.
The
papers
in
this
issue
thus
represent
an
early
exploration
of
collaborative
government.
They
are
a
selection
from
those
to
be
presented
at
the
Public
Administration
Committee's
Annual
Conference
in
Sunningdale
from
6th-8th
September
1999.
Other
papers
are
available
on
the
PAC's
website
(http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/polilpac/conf99.htm)
and
many
will
be
published
in
this
and
other
journals
in
the
coming
months.
Although
the
papers
have
been
refereed
they
have
been
written
as
contributions
to
conference
discussion
not
as
definitive
statements.
Thus,
recognising
that
it
has
the
potential
to
be
one
of
the
more
vacuous
concepts
in
the
lexicon
of
government,
contributors
have
been
encouraged
to
take
a
broad
understanding
of
collaborative
government,
at
least
initially.
For
our
purposes,
therefore,
it
includes
not
only
what
has
been
termed
'joined-up'
government
(i.e.
that
between
governmental
organisations)
but
also
partnerships
between
agencies
across
governmental,
voluntary
and
private
sectors,
such
as
action
zones,
private
finance
ventures,
public-private
partnerships,
social
exclusion
and
similar
thematic
policy
initiatives.
Yet
such
an
inclusive
conceptual-
isation
is
intended
to
encourage
conceptual
clarification
in
the
light
of
experience.
Similarly
we
wish
explore
the
experience
and
outcomes
of
collaborative
government
to
portray
some
of
its
principal
patterns
and
identify
emerging
issues
both
for
the
management
of
services
and
the
development
of
public
policy.
Thus
contributors
have
been
encouraged
to
answer
the
following
and
other
related
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
14
No.
2
Summer
1999
I

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