New Public Governance, the Third Sector, and Co-Production

In recent years public management research in a variety of disciplines has paid increasing attention to the role of citizens and the third sector in the provision of public services. Several of these efforts have employed the concept of co-production to better understand and explain this trend. However, the research still lacks a comprehensive theoretical and empirical understanding of what happens when citizens and/or the third sector are drawn into public service provision and of the various aspects of co-production. The concept of co-production spread in recent years to Europe and elsewhere, and is now used by researchers in many parts of the world to analyze citizen participation in the provision of publically financed services, regardless of the provider. The growth of interest in co-production during the past 10 years provides important insights into#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;and at the same time poses important challenges#xE2;#xAC;#x1D;for public management. This book addresses the nexus of issues and disciplines interested in co-production, and through them it makes a contribution to the development of the disciplines that focus on public management. Co-production exists at the cross-roads of a number of disciplines - including business administration, policy studies, political science, public management, sociology, and third sector studies, all of which have important perspectives on this topic and all of them are important for the development of public management and public services. The unique presentation of them together in this volume both allows for comparing and contrasting these different perspectives and for potential theoretical collaboration and development. With a Foreword written by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, New Public Governance, the Third Sector, and Co-Productionaddress the nature of co-production and the challenges it faces.