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Collaborative Public Management and Democracy: Evidence from Western Watershed Partnerships
Author(s) -
Leach William D.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00670.x
Subject(s) - impartiality , representativeness heuristic , empowerment , public administration , normative , public participation , democracy , general partnership , transparency (behavior) , political science , deliberative democracy , public relations , sociology , politics , law , psychology , social psychology
This article provides a framework for assessing the democratic merits of collaborative public management in terms of seven normative ideals: inclusiveness, representativeness, impartiality, transparency, deliberativeness, lawfulness, and empowerment. The framework is used to analyze a random sample of 76 watershed partnerships in California and Washington State. The study reveals the exclusionary nature of some partnerships and suggests that critical stakeholders are missing from many partnerships. However, representation was generally balanced. National and statewide advocacy groups were absent from most of these place‐based partnerships; public agencies were the primary source of nonlocal perspectives. Deliberativeness was relatively strong, indicated by the prevalence of educational and fact‐finding strategies and participants’ perceptions of respectful discussion and improved social capital. Half the partnerships had implemented new policies, and two‐thirds of stakeholders believed their partnership had improved watershed conditions, indicating empowerment.