Collaborating with the competition? A study of interlocal partnership choices
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| Author | Meghan E. Rubado |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12812 |
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Collaborating with the competition? A study of
interlocal partnership choices
Meghan E. Rubado
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban
Affairs, Cleveland State University,
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Correspondence
Meghan E. Rubado, Maxine Goodman Levin
College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State
University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Email: m.rubado@csuohio.edu
Abstract
In the US system of decentralized federalism, competitive
dynamics among local governments are not incompatible
with successful interlocal collaboration. Municipalities often
collaborate with competing jurisdictions in the same region
to provide services and solve problems. Yet, competitive
relations among municipalities are expected to complicate
collaboration, escalating transaction costs due to divergent
goals and lack of trust. This article uses the Institutional Col-
lective Action framework to examine the conditions under
which local governments are best able to surmount
competition-related hurdles and successfully partner with
their chief municipal competitors. An original survey of
mayors and councilors is used to test potential predictors of
collaboration among top competitors. Results show that
municipalities often collaborate with their chief competitors
but are less likely to do so when they are situated in
municipally-fragmented regions, when they are located in a
different county from their top competitors, and when they
are fiscally strong.
Local governments in the United States have long engaged in collaboration with one another for a variety of pur-
poses, for example, to improve efficiency or quality of services (Andrew, 2009b; Chen & Thurmaier, 2009; Park
et al., 2019); to plan for and deal with emergencies (Andrew & Carr, 2013); to attract economic development
(Hawkins, 2010); or to solve problems that extend beyond local boundaries (Bel & Warner, 2015; Weber &
Khademian, 2008). Simultaneously though, general-purpose local governments in jurisdictionally fragmented regions
must compete with one another for economic development and other sources of tax revenue (Peterson, 1981)as
they attempt to deliver desirable tax-and-spend packages to unique constituencies (Tiebout, 1956). So, while local
governments regularly enter into collaborative arrangements with neighboring jurisdictions, they do so amidst often
intense interlocal competition.
Received: 5 April 2021 Revised: 10 October 2021 Accepted: 16 November 2021
DOI: 10.1111/padm.12812
640 © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Public Admin. 2023;101:640–654.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/padm
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