Description: The governments of China and the United States - despite profound differences in history, culture, economic structure, and political ideology - both engage the private sector in the pursuit of public value. This book employs the term collaborative governance to describe relationships where neither the public nor private party is fully in control, arguing that such shared discretion is needed to deliver value to citizens. This concept is exemplified across a wide range of policy arenas, such as constructing high speed rail, hosting the Olympics, building human capital, and managing the healthcare system. This book will help decision-makers apply the principles of collaborative governance to effectively serve the public, and will enable China and the United States to learn from each other's experiences. It will empower public decision-makers to more wisely engage the private sector. The book's overarching conclusion is that transparency is the key to the legitimate growth of collaborative governance.
Brief description: Karen Eggleston is Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Director of the Asia Health Policy Program in the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.
Review Quotes: 'Eggleston, Donahue, and Zeckhauser offer an authoritative and intriguing account of why and how collaborative governance, a key modern instrument that engages public and private actors for comparative advantages in coping with complex public affairs, has been widely and deeply practiced in two vastly different countries, China and the US. An essential reading with profound academic inspirations and rich empirical inquiries.' Yijia Jing, Fudan University