Being Strategic in Partnership – Interpreting Local Knowledge of Modern Local Government

Abstract

A broad and international literature exists on networked governance which has both described and informed recent transformations in local government. Reforms in the UK have led to the development of strategic partnerships to join-up services and solve wicked issues. In Scotland these are referred to as Community Planning Partnerships. Evidence from numerous studies has highlighted the partial nature of this transformation, particularly around community engagement, with some of the pioneers of this work now questioning earlier assumptions. This article presents an interpretive policy analysis of strategic partnership in Scotland to add three themes to this literature. Firstly, to demonstrate the historical contingency of "joined-up government"; secondly to explore the practices and meanings used by policy actors to understand "strategic" and "partnerships". Finally the article problematises strategic partnership working suggesting that in and of itself it creates effective barriers to community empowerment and even engagement.

Collaborative dynamics in street level work: Working in and with communities to improve relationships and reduce deprivation

“…Increasingly, studies of interagency collaboration are looking "inside their operations" (Agranoff, 2006, page 56) to understand how relationships can be rendered more authentic and effective (e.g., Agranoff, 2008;Romzek et al, 2012). However, in contrast to the collaborative planning literature (Healey, 2006;Innes and Booher, 2010;Matthews, 2014;Sherlock et al, 2004;Westerink et al, 2017), the field of public administration tends to shy away from critically assessing the impact of collaborative dynamics on societal outcomes and from specifying normative criteria to evaluate the quality of collaborative processes and outcomes (Author et al, 2017).…”

Transforming fire prevention: a case study

“…However, Bigdeli et al (2013) commented that although public sector organisations may wish to work collaboratively, electronic information sharing between the partner organisations can be problematic. Matthews (2014) stated that overall partnerships can break down barriers between different public sector agencies and prioritise action based on a strategy to support the local community.…”

Neighbourhood Belonging, Social Class and Social Media—Providing Ladders to the Cloud

“…The RepCouncil had its funding withdrawn and ceased in June 2008. Wester Hailes was left with no democratic structures apart from local councillors and the structures of the local authority which covered a large geographical area and struggled to fully engage any community (Matthews, 2014).…”