A case study in collaborative governance: Health care law reform in Georgia

Abstract

This case study illustrates how collaborative governance through consensus building can work well to achieve law reform, with shared responsibilities among elected officials, private and professional stakeholders, and ordinary citizens. The author discusses the participants involved and the process adopted in Georgia to reform the state's law on advance directives for health care. She identifies some of the best practices that contributed to the success of this law-reform effort, and offers some lessons learned for future work in collaborative governance.

Collaborative innovation in the public sector

“…First, in order to create well-functioning interactive arenas with active and committed actors the managers must act as conveners. The convener motivates, empowers and brings together the actors, creates and frames the interactive arena, sets the initial agenda, clarifies the process and ensures a mutual adjustment of the expectations (Ansell and Gash, 2008;Page, 2010;Scott, 2011). Second, in order to encourage and facilitate collaboration between the stakeholders the managers must act as mediators.…”

Does collaboration affect the duration of environmental permitting processes?

“…Without an agreement, FERC weighs the various submissions and issues a license it deems to best balance between power and non-power interests. 9 2008) and can create buy-in to a decision (Emerson et al 2009;Scott 2011), reducing the likelihood of lawsuits or other delays by dissatisfied stakeholders. Arguments that collaboration should lengthen duration note that building trust between stakeholders (Ansell and Gash 2008), developing "shared understanding of the issues" (Margerum and Whitall 2004, 424), and increasing problem-solving capacity (Susskind, McKearnen, and Thomas-Lamar 1999) take time (Leach and Pelkey 2001).…”

“…Collaboration can create agreement and buy-in to a decision because people from multiple sides of a contentious issue were involved in solving it (Emerson et al 2009;Scott 2011).…”

Collaborative Governance at Scale: Examining the Regimes, Platforms, and System in the State of Oregon

“…Over the last several decades, collaborative governance has surged in both practice and research. Today, collaborative governance and other types of collaborative public management approaches (such as partnerships and networks) 1 are used at all levels of government and in numerous policy areas such as environmental conflict resolution (Emerson et al, 2009; Manring, 1998), management (Bitterman & Koliba, 2020; Brody, 2003; Fisher et al, 2020; Hardy & Koontz, 2008; Hui et al, 2020; Leach, 2006; Koontz & Thomas, 2006; Ulibarri, 2015a), planning (Scott & Carter, 2019; Singleton, 2002), health and welfare (Doberstein, 2016; Johnston et al, 2011; Hafer, 2018; Mosley, 2012; Scott, 2011), and emergency and disaster management (Brink & Wamsler, 2018; Edelenbos et al, 2017; Kapucu, 2014; Kapucu, Arslan, and Demiroz, 2010; Kapucu, Arslan, and Collins, 2010), among others.…”