How Policy Rules Shape the Structure and Performance of Collaborative Governance Arrangements

Abstract

Local food system governance increasingly occurs in collaborative venues at the local, state, and regional levels. Prominent examples of such are food policy councils (FPCs). FPCs take a systemic approach to improve local food systems by including diverse stakeholders to advise on policy development. Th e authors study public FPCs to understand how policies structure the stakeholder composition and goals of FPCs and how FPCs' stakeholder composition facilitates and/or impedes performance. Data come from a content analysis of policies that mandate the structure and functions of public FPCs and interviews with FPC representatives. Findings indicate that FPCs connected to a broader array of food policy actors in their communities produce more diverse policy outputs, but this outcome is tempered by whether council members represent personal or organizational interests. Practitioner Points• Collaborative governance can be an eff ective strategy when public problems are reframed to account for new information or failures of traditional governance approaches. • Collaborative policy-making eff orts in food system governance should include participants who serve as liaisons to a broader array of community stakeholders. • Diverse governance structures are more productive when members have latitude to leverage individual expertise in policy making rather than simply serving the interests of organizations they represent. • Local communities interested in addressing a wide range of food-related policy issues should consider creating food policy councils or similar collaborative policy-making eff orts.part of the policy process (Ansell and Gash 2008).

Networking for conservation: social capital and perceptions of organizational success among land trust boards

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Sustainable Development and Public Administration: Challenges and Innovation in Citizen Engagement

“…Collaborative aspect and public participation in sustainability efforts also received much attention in the literature [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. While Koontz and Thomas [19] have argued that there is still no strong evidence to link collaborative environmental management to improved environmental outcomes, they accept the fact that collaboration plays a prominent role in addressing environmental challenges at a national level (in the USA).…”

Disaster Response After Extreme Events in Taiwan: The Influence of Formal Institutions on Inter‐Organizational Interaction

“…Scholars have long explored the factors that influence the formation and evolution of inter-organizational interaction in disaster response systems (Comfort, 2007;Kapucu, 2007;Simo & Bies, 2007;Waugh & Streib, 2006). The political and policy perspective suggests that factors such as legislation and policy (Dawes, 1996;Sapat & Esnard, 2012;Siddiki, Carboni, Koski, & Sadiq, 2015;Yang & Wu, 2014), power and authority (Henning & Ng, 2009), and the political environment (Dawes, 1996;Drake, Steckler, & Koch, 2004;Han, Hu, & Nigg, 2011) influence inter-organizational interaction. Another line of inquiry, the organizational and managerial perspective, considers factors such as organizational structure, resources, culture, trust, and leadership (Ansell & Gash 2007;Crosby & Bryson, 2010;Graddy & Chen, 2006;Huxham & Vangen, 2004;Provan & Kenis, 2008).…”