In this paper presented to the NZ Treasury, Jonathan Boston asks how governments can build good societies—specifically, what kind of public and economic policies should be pursued to reach this goal. Introduction: Public policy is an inherently ethical undertaking. It poses fundamental questions about how we ought to live and how we should order our...

Introduction: Dealing with natural disasters and their after-effects are among the most difficult tasks governments face. Such disasters can seriously harm the financial, social, environmental, and human welfare of a country, and managing them often requires co-ordination between local authorities, businesses, neighbourhood groups, and volunteer organisations. Public policy makers and theorists are aware that effective...

Collaborative governance is talked about as something New Zealand needs to have more of, to deal with the sorts of issues governement faces today, like solving use and conservation of fresh water. There is even some promising practice of collaborative governance such as through the Land and Water Forum. Yet beyond this well-known example, the...

Abstract: Networks, collaboration and partnerships between the government and community groups offer prospects for stronger governance and improved public value. Many authors have reported on processes that enhance the prospects for successful collaborations, especially in handling intractable issues, but few have examined the limits to partnerships. A simple theory of government (involving the efforts of...

This paper examines the progress of the Land and Water Forum, which was a stakeholder-led collaborative governance process established to recommend potential reform of New Zealand’s fresh water management. Introduction: Looking at collaborative processes in retrospect is always easier than it was at the time they were first happening. They tend to look more designed...