Although one often thinks of collaborative management and related group problem-solving as different interests coming together in "peaceful harmony," nothing could be further from reality. Collaboration in real-world action requires steering and negotiation in virtually every situation, with a considerable process that precedes agreement. This progression is, in effect, a "mini" political and managerial process we have come to know as collaborative politics and its management. This volume explores the process and operations of collaboration and collaborative politics, from routine transactions, or "small p" politics, to the significant issue forces or "big P" politics. Collaboration is defined here as the process of facilitating and operating in multiorganizational arrangements for addressing problems and producing solutions through the contributions of several organizations and individuals. Throughout the book, readers are gradually exposed to analysis of key findings in collaborative politics from the long research tradition in policy and political science. This book adapts a series of stories to highlight some of collaborative politics' dynamics, from a range of jurisdictions. It further analyzes the efficacy of storytelling as a learning tool and contributor to practice in different contexts. With collaborative politics often associated with negotiations among administrative actors, authors Robert Agranoff and Aleksey Kolpakov demonstrate how interorganization/interagency collaboration operates and is managed, as well as how it has been modified or adjusted in its fundamental core concepts of bureaucratic organization and hierarchy. The Politics of Collaborative Public Management is designed as a core text for undergraduate and graduate classes on collaborative management and governance.

Today, the work of government often involves coordination at the federal, state, and local levels as well as with contractors and citizens' groups. This process of governance across levels of government, jurisdictions, and types of actors is called intergovernmental relations, and intergovernmental management (IGM) is the way work is administered in this increasingly complex system. Leading authority Robert Agranoff reintroduces intergovernmental management for twenty-first-century governance to a new generation of scholars, students, and practitioners. Agranoff examines IGM in the United States from four thematic perspectives: law and politics, jurisdictional interdependency, multisector partners, and networks and networking. Common wisdom holds that government has "hollowed out" despite this present era of contracting and networked governance, but he argues that effective intergovernmental management has never been more necessary or important. He concludes by offering six next steps for intergovernmental management.

"Collaborating to Manage" captures the basic ideas and approaches to public management in an era where government must partner with external organizations as well as other agencies to work together to solve difficult public problems. In this primer, Robert Agranoff examines current and emergent approaches and techniques in intergovernmental grants and regulation management, purchase-of-service contracting, networking, public/nonprofit partnerships and other lateral arrangements in the context of the changing public agency. As he steers the reader through various ways of coping with such organizational richness, Agranoff offers a deeper look at public management in an era of shared public program responsibility within governance. Geared toward professionals working with the new bureaucracy and for students who will pursue careers in the public or non-profit sectors, "Collaborating to Manage" is a student-friendly book that contains many examples of real-world practices, lessons from successful cases, and summaries of key principles for collaborative public management.

Today, the work of government often involves coordination at the federal, state, and local levels as well as with contractors and citizens' groups. This process of governance across levels of government, jurisdictions, and types of actors is called intergovernmental relations, and intergovernmental management (IGM) is the way work is administered in this increasingly complex system. Leading authority Robert Agranoff reintroduces intergovernmental management for twenty-first-century governance to a new generation of scholars, students, and practitioners. Agranoff examines IGM in the United States from four thematic perspectives: law and politics, jurisdictional interdependency, multisector partners, and networks and networking. Common wisdom holds that government has "hollowed out" despite this present era of contracting and networked governance, but he argues that effective intergovernmental management has never been more necessary or important. He concludes by offering six next steps for intergovernmental management.

The real work of many governments is done not in stately domed capitols but by a network of federal and state officials working with local governments and nongovernmental organizations to address issues that cross governmental boundaries. "Managing within Networks" analyzes the structure, operations, and achievements of these public management networks that are trying to solve intractable problems at the field level. It examines such areas as transportation, economic and rural development, communications systems and data management, water conservation, wastewater management, watershed conservation, and services for persons with developmental disabilities. Robert Agranoff draws a number of innovative conclusions about what these networks do and how they do it from data compiled on fourteen public management networks in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Ohio. Agranoff identifies four different types of networks based on their purposes and observes the differences between network management and traditional management structures and leadership. He notes how knowledge is managed and value added within intergovernmental networks. This volume is useful for students, scholars, and practitioners of public management.

As government faces more complex problems, and citizens expect more, the way government delivers services and results is changing rapidly. The traditional model of government agencies administering hundreds of programs by themselves is giving way to one-stop services and cross-agency results. This translation implies collaboration--within agencies; among agencies; among levels of governments; and among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The first part of this book describes what networks and partnerships are. The second part presents case examples of how collaborative approaches have actually worked in the public sector, when they should be used, and what it takes to manage and coordinate them.

Networks have been described in terms of metaphors, governance arrangements and structural or institutional arrangements. These different perspectives of networks come out of a variety of disciplines, including political science, public administration, urban affairs, social welfare, public management and organizational/sociological research. This wealth of research, while contributing to a deeper understanding of networks, presents a dilemma which is addressed by this book. That is the question of whether there is a theory of public networks that informs networks in their various forms, and is there a need for a new theory of networks? More importantly, is network research still relevant to practice? Does network theory improve the process of governance? Are different terms and/or approaches actually the same or different? What do these different approaches mean to theory? This book deeply explores and integrates existing network theory and related theories from a number of perspectives, levels and jurisdictions to develop a framework to guide network design, governance and management. The book focuses on the important issue of network performance, looking at networks as bounded and consciously arranged; the actors who participate in them design the relationships among a bounded set of individual organizations to purse common objectives. Finally, the chapters tease out the variety of governance modes or regimes that intersect with network governance. This book offers a comprehensive, integrative, interdisciplinary approach that enables specialists, practitioners and administrators across a wide array of interests and fields to formulate and work on problems using a common language, analytical framework and theoretical basis.

Networks have been described in terms of metaphors, governance arrangements and structural or institutional arrangements. These different perspectives of networks come out of a variety of disciplines, including political science, public administration, urban affairs, social welfare, public management and organizational/sociological research. This wealth of research, while contributing to a deeper understanding of networks, presents a dilemma which is addressed by this book. That is the question of whether there is a theory of public networks that informs networks in their various forms, and is there a need for a new theory of networks? More importantly, is network research still relevant to practice? Does network theory improve the process of governance? Are different terms and/or approaches actually the same or different? What do these different approaches mean to theory? This book deeply explores and integrates existing network theory and related theories from a number of perspectives, levels and jurisdictions to develop a framework to guide network design, governance and management. The book focuses on the important issue of network performance, looking at networks as bounded and consciously arranged; the actors who participate in them design the relationships among a bounded set of individual organizations to purse common objectives. Finally, the chapters tease out the variety of governance modes or regimes that intersect with network governance. This book offers a comprehensive, integrative, interdisciplinary approach that enables specialists, practitioners and administrators across a wide array of interests and fields to formulate and work on problems using a common language, analytical framework and theoretical basis.

As government faces more complex problems, and citizens expect more, the way government delivers services and results is changing rapidly. The traditional model of government agencies administering hundreds of programs by themselves is giving way to one-stop services and cross-agency results. This translation implies collaborationOCowithin agencies; among agencies; among levels of governments; and among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The first part of this book describes what networks and partnerships are. The second part presents case examples of how collaborative approaches have actually worked in the public sector, when they should be used, and what it takes to manage and coordinate them."

Throughout the 1990s public demand for a fundamental shift in the relationship between government and its citizens has intensified. In response, a "new governance" model has emerged, emphasizing decreased federal control in favor of intergovernmental collaboration and increased involvement of state, local, and private agencies.

As the authors of this volume show, one of the best examples of "new governance" can be found in the National and State Rural Development Councils (NRDC and SRDC), created in 1990 as the result of President Bush's Rural Development Initiative and now called the Rural Development Partnership. This effort was part of a move within policymaking circles to redefine a rural America that was no longer synonymous with family farming and that required innovative new solutions for economic revival. By 1994 twenty-nine states had created and ten other states were in the process of forming such councils.

In this first detailed analysis of the NRDC and SRDCs, the authors examine the successes and failures of the original eight councils in Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington; as well as eight other councils subsequently created in Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Vermont, New York, North Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Combining empirical analysis with current theories about networks and inter-organizational relations, this volume should appeal to academics and practitioners interested in rural development policy, public administration, public policy and management, and intergovernmental relations.

Local governments serve their communities in many diversified ways as they increasingly engage in multiple connections: international, regional, regional-local, with nongovernmental organizations and through external nongovernmental services county actors. The book discusses how the shift in emphasis from government to governance has raised many management challenges, along with shifting expectations and demands.