Moving beyond the limits of joined-up government? Meta-governance, quality of relations and addressing the politics of joining-up

Abstract

Recent research has questioned the ability of Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) to secure better coordination and management of regeneration across different branches of the state. In a period of economic recession and a curtailing of regeneration finance, reconsideration is therefore required of how to secure greater horizontal and vertical integration by LSPs in regeneration policy, budgeting and service delivery. To this end, it is suggested that there needs to be i) a deeper analysis of the quality of local relationships between partners; and ii) a greater emphasis on the politics of ‘joining up’. This paper critiques the relative influence of each of these factors. It is illustrated that the ongoing ‘meta-governance’ of LSPs, coupled with a number of horizontal barriers to ‘collaborative governance’, are impinging upon the level of integration being achieved. Further efforts will be required to address such issues, especially tackling a number of barriers identified to the politics of ‘joining up’ at a variety of spatial scales.