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Stakeholder partnerships as collaborative policymaking: Evaluation criteria applied to watershed management in California and Washington
Author(s) -
Leach William D.,
Pelkey Neil W.,
Sabatier Paul A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of policy analysis and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.898
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1520-6688
pISSN - 0276-8739
DOI - 10.1002/pam.10079
Subject(s) - general partnership , stakeholder , stakeholder engagement , public administration , public participation , watershed , public relations , political science , environmental resource management , business , economics , computer science , law , machine learning
Abstract Public policymaking and implementation in the United States are increasingly handled through local,consensus‐seeking partnerships involving most affected stakeholders. This paper formalizes the conceptof a stakeholder partnership, and proposes techniques for using interviews, surveys, and documents to measureeach of six evaluation criteria. Then the criteria are applied to 44 watershed partnerships in California andWashington. The data suggest that each criterion makes a unique contribution to the overall evaluation, andtogether the criteria reflect a range of partnership goals—both short‐term and long‐term,substantive and instrumental. Success takes time—frequently about 48 months to achieve major milestones,such as formal agreements and implementation of restoration, education, or monitoring projects. Stakeholdersperceive that their partnerships have been most effective at addressing local problems and at addressingserious problems—not just uncontroversial issues, as previously hypothesized. On the other hand, theyperceive that partnerships have occasionally aggravated problems involving the economy, regulation, and threatsto property rights. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.