Collaborative Governance: Theory and Lessons from Israel

This book is the first to explore collaborative governance arrangements in Israel. It offers a new, modular definition of collaborative governance, focusing on its contributions toward public values and democracy. The book discusses different kinds of collaborations, their scope, implications and impact on governability in Israel, a country which provides an interesting setting for learning about collaborative governance, given its heterogenous population and the nature of the relationship between the state’s civil service, the business sector and the civil society. The book presents examples derived from local, and central government levels, and from policy areas such as education, regulation and local government.

Neta Sher-Hadar is Lecturer in Administration and Public Policy at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Israel. Her areas of teaching and research include policy implementation, policy failures, policy analysis, public administration reforms, and public auditing. She is the academic co-director of a research study on collaborative governance at the Yaakov Chazan Center for Social Justice and Democracy at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel, and is a faculty member in the Department of Public Policy and Administration at Sapir Academic College, Israel.

Lihi Lahat is Lecturer in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Sapir Academic College, Israel, and the academic co-director of the research group studying collaborative governance at the Chazan Center in the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, Israel. Her research focuses on the regulation of personal welfare services, trust and the emotional wellbeing of public-sector workers, the relationship between time and policy, and policy makers’ perceptions of poverty.     

Itzhak Galnoor is Senior Fellow at The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Academic Director of the Privatization Policy, Regulation and the Issue of Collaborative Governance project at the Chazan Center for Social Justice, Israel. He is a former Chair of the Israeli Political Science Association and Herbert Samuel Professor of Political Science (emeritus), Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel