Collaborative Governance and Public Perceptions of Legitimacy

• In Event: Co-Production and Collaborative Governance

Abstract

Democratic theorists have debated the consequences of distrust in government at great length, with most concluding that a lack in trust undermines confidence and threatens regime stability (Zmerli and Newton 2008; Warren 1999; Norris 2011; Levi and Stoker 2000; Newton 2001; Inglehart 1999). But what drives trust, and relatedly, confidence and perceptions of legitimacy in public institutions?

In recent years, the concept of “collaborative governance” (CG) has emerged as a strategy for increasing government’s legitimacy and enhancing representation, particularly for dealing with local community stakeholders. CG extends the formulation and execution of policy beyond government officials to individual and group stakeholders. CG can be found in various policy domains in the U.S., including natural resource management (e.g. watershed, river), infrastructure permitting (e.g. dams, public transit) and land use planning processes (Emerson and Gerlak 2014; Hardy and Koontz 2010; Lubell et al. 2010; Luyet et al. 2012; Margerum and Robinson 2014; Newig and Fritsch 2009). The intent of CG design is to make decision-making processes more inclusive by allowing community stakeholders to observe and participate along with government officials. While the federal government has also increased its transparency and opportunities for citizen observation through federal transparency and open meetings laws, there are far more opportunities for citizens and groups to participate directly at the local government level. This is particularly true in the policy areas of transportation and water policy, the two issues we focus on in this paper.

Despite the laudatory aims and widespread use of collaborative governance in the U.S., few empirical studies have directly tested whether directly involving citizens and groups in the policymaking process increases trust and perceptions of legitimacy in public decision-making. As compared to traditional government, in which elected and appointed public officials dominate the policy-making process, does the move towards collaborative governance increase perceived legitimacy, trust and confidence? If so, what specific kind of governance composition and leadership would best promote these goals? And do these perceptions about collaborative governance versus traditional government vary by the specific issues or general policy areas the decision-making body is dealing with?

We examine these questions by conducting a series of survey experiments about the composition of collaborative governance in two important areas of public policy: transportation and water. We test our hypotheses in two different policy domains to examine if respondents’ institutional design preferences are consistent across, or contingent upon, policy areas. These experiments reveal that governance does enhance citizen trust and confidence in public decision-making, but it is only consistently higher when private citizens, as opposed to representatives from various business groups and interests, are included in the collaboration. This finding underscores the populist faith that Americans have in individual citizens and their skepticism about groups and factions when it comes to institutional design and representation (Cain 2014; Pildes 2014; Achen and Bartels 2017).

Authors

• Iris Hui, Stanford University

• Elisabeth R. Gerber, University of Michigan

• Bruce E. Cain, Stanford University