Chapter 4: New Ways of Working: Civic Engagement Through Networks

Confronted by the growing reality of finite resources and the realization that many social, economic, and environmental problems do not respond to conventional linear thinking or single agency/sector responses, increasingly agencies and sectors have looked to work with and draw from the capacities and resources of other organizations and sectors. As a result of this shift from single/individual to multiactor focus, terms and concepts such as governance, networks, collaboration, and partnerships have become key terms in public policy and practice discourse.

While all sectors are confronted with the need to explore and experiment with interorganizational relationships, the government, or public sector, is particularly challenged by decreasing budgets, growing demands for more citizen involvement and the realization that they no longer hold all expertise and knowledge (if indeed they ever did). As a result, over the past 20 years the relationships between government and the community and voluntary sector have become increasingly important in the development of public policy and the implementation of services. Relations with community members and voluntary-sector organizations have shifted from the periphery to the center of government policy and practice, particularly in respect to community based and local government policy development and service delivery (Agranoff, 2003; Brinkerhoff, 2002; Cordero-Guzman, 2001; Goodwin, 2004; Huxham, 2005; Huxham & Vangen, 1996, 2005; Keast & Brown, 2002; Keast, Mandell, Brown, & Woolcock, 2004; Koppenjan & Klijn, 2004; Mandell, 2001a, 2001b; Osborne & McLaughlin, 2002, 2004; Provan & Milward, 1995).