Handbook of Public Administration, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3Governance in an Era of Partnerships

Barbara C. Crosby, Melissa M. Stone, and John M. Bryson

Public administration scholars and practitioners increasingly assume that partnering across organizational and sectoral boundaries is both a necessary and desirable strategy for addressing many of society's most difficult public challenges (Agranoff & McGuire, 2003; Goldsmith & Eggers, 2004; Agranoff, 2007; O'Leary & Bingham, 2009; Emerson, Nabatchi, & Balogh, 2012). It is difficult to imagine successfully tackling major international problems, such as the AIDS pandemic or terrorism, or domestic issues, such as urban traffic congestion, without some sort of interorganizational and cross-sector collaboration.

Increasing use of collaborations ...