This contributed volume explores the management of intergovernmental relations--policies and networks. The book is a response to the growing need for concrete information on the development and use of different strategies for managing in the intergovernmental system. Such strategies became increasingly important during the Reagan years, especially with that administration's penchant for public-private partnerships. This study assembles some of the most respected experts in the field who outline the strategies and management skills needed to build and maintain intergovernmental networks...

Public policy makers and managers in public administration operate under a unique set of circumstances that differ significantly from those in the private sector. Collaboration through networks is a feature of both sectors, but in the private sector it is often characterized by partnerships and alliances meant to benefit a particular company or industry, whereas collaboration through networks in the public sector involve disparate organizations working toward a common goal and not merely to enhance the performance of one among them. Therefore, much of the work that has been published in...

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,...