Introduction and definition

While all challenges provide opportunities for a more effective large-scale collaboration in public action, the relevant institutional design is far from being introduced. The formal inclusion of citizens input in the policy-making process, the deriving institutional rules, the legitimacy and accountability framework are all issues that have so far been little explored. Instant, open governance implies a substantial increase in feedback loops that are of a different scale with respect to the present context. Any system stability is affected by the number, speed and intensity of feedback loops, and the institutional context has been designed for less and slower loops.

The definition and design of public sector role is being directly affected by the radical increase in bottom-up collaboration, deriving from the lower cost of self-organisation. There are also important questions to be answered – where does the legitimacy come from, how to gain and maintain the trust of users, how to identify the users online. There is also a very important issue of how to take into the account the diversity of the standpoints, i.e. how to achieve a consensual answer to controversial social issues, especially when we do not offer alternatives (ready-made options) but start from an open question and work throughout different options proposed by participants. Furthermore, the trade-off between direct or representative model of democracy will have to be analysed in this context. It is far from being proved that the open and collaborative governance is really inclusive and representative of all the social groups, including the disadvantaged and of all standpoints. There is a visible risk that online collaboration increases the divide, rather than reduces it.

The management of institutional bodies is changing: innovative ideas and insight coming from employees and citizens are key resources to be exploited, and meritocracy and transparency are entering an once stable and conservative workforce. Enhanced collaboration with citizens and private third parties should be accompanied by adequate legal and accountability frameworks, mapping incentives to participation and enabling business models for different stakeholders.

The privacy paradigm is changing and appropriate, more dynamic frameworks have to be designed, taking into account the willingness of citizens to share information and at the same time ensuring their full awareness of the implications and their control over the data usage.

Recent trends

The current status is characterized by practice-driven implementation, accompanied by little scientific reflection. Guidelines and soft regulation are being created from scratch and by building on other institutions examples. The development of collaborative governance is growing rapidly without an appropriate reference framework.

Current practice

• Made-up guidelines and behaviour

Public Policy Application

As it is widely recognized, policy issues of our age can be addressed only through the collaboration of all the components of the society, including the private sector and individual citizens. In this view the advantages in collaborative governance are given by:

1. Effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of programs
2. Professional development / capacity building
3. Better needs assessment and use of available resources
4. Boost communication among citizens and stakeholders
5. Increase transparency and accountability, as well as equity and inclusiveness
6. Avoiding duplication in policy making
7. Increasing responsiveness, access and build relationship
8. Improving public image
9. Improve the quality of information
10. Consensus based decision-making
11. Increased acceptance of results

Collaborative governance can be applied to virtually all the policy making fields. The following areas constitute a mere example:

1. Infrastructure management: building new infrastructures often entails the necessity to balance conflicting interests, especially for what concerns the case of huge externalities
2. Digital inclusion: the increase in the use of ICT has to be fostered by the collaboration at every level
3. Energy: delivering affordable and efficient energy, collaboration on the definition of energy regulations
4. Environment: definition of new regulations on environmental safeguard, mediation concerning the use of environmental resources, collaboration in assessing public projects with environmental impact
5. Health care: collaboration in health care reform, awareness and education campaigns, disease prevention
6. Transportation: collaboration in the definition of a transportation plan, negotiation of transportation rules, settlement of disputes on the construction of a transportation facility

Inspiring cases of ICT applications to Collaborative Governance

The Open Government Initiative2 carried out by the Obama Administration, for promoting government transparency and citizen engagement on a global scale:

Partner4Solutions3: the website for the Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation at the Office of Management and Budget. By using this tool, the Partnership Fund aims at gathering ideas from citizens for improving the Federal assistance programme
Regulations.gov4: in this website it is possible to comment on proposed regulations and related documents published by the U.S. Federal government, as well as to search and review original regulatory documents as well as comments submitted by others
Challenge.gov5: online challenge platform allowing the public to bring the best ideas and top talent to bear on our nation’s most pressing challenges, which can range from simple ideas and suggestions to proofs of concept, designs, or finished products that solve the grand challenges of the 21st century
We the People6: allowing citizens to create and launch a petition in order to engage the government
Key challenges and gaps

The key challenges and gaps in collaborative governance are:

1. Coping with accelerating changes in policy making
2. Overlapping in institutions and jurisdictions
3. Increasing complexity in the issues to be tackled
4. Ability to choose the appropriate tool for tackling the problem at hand
5. The need to integrate policies and resources
6. Managing expectations
7. Public involvement processes can be disconnected from real decision making
8. Tackle conflicting interests among participants
9. Using tools appropriate for the scale (small-scale or large scale) of the problem/solution
10. Calibrate the level of citizens’ participation required with respect to the nature of the problem/solution
11. Define the appropriate levels of accountability
12. Avoid instability in preferences

Current research

• Analysing the compatibility of new collaborative behaviour with existing institutional framework 

Research disciplines: political sciences, public administration, law, sociology, and other social sciences in general (including institutional economics for example), as well as organisational, network, innovation theories, etc.

Possible research instruments: thematic networks, Support Action


Future research: long term and short term issues

Short-term research

• Updated institutional framework

Long-term research

• New models of governance and service provision