A New Model of Governance 225
be used as a descriptive term for interjurisdictional relationships between public
and private actors. As Frederickson writes, “Most descriptions of governance—
networks, inter-organizational and inter-jurisdictional cooperation, power-sharing
federations, public-private partnerships, and contracting out—are forms of institu-
tional adaptation in the face of increasing interdependence” (290).
Fift h, governance theory tends to give disproportionate weight to “non-state
institutions” (Frederickson 2005, 290). Rarely are services provided in the com-
plete absence of public or governmental institutions. Instead, public service deliv-
ery is oft en characterized by “public-private partnerships” (Skelcher 2005).
Nonetheless, the debate on governance is well under way, and its potential
to reshape public administration as a scholarly discipline is seen by some as in-
evitable. Numerous scholars are painstakingly trying to capture the purpose and
process of the new realities of government in theory. Th is project is undertaken
from a variety of viewpoints and intellectual traditions. Here in the emerging fi eld
of governance theory, public administration scholars wrestle with the key ques-
tions created by the growth of the fragmented state: What is government’s role
in society? How should this role be fulfi lled? Are the new realities of providing
public service suffi ciently accountable to the democratic process? As Wachhaus
(2014, 574) writes, “there’s a gap between the governed and the government.”
Th is chapter explores some of the dominant themes in the governance debate and
their potential for providing the discipline with the theoretical tools necessary to
understand and explain public administration in the twenty-fi rst century.
A New Model of Governance
Among the initial important contributions to the governance literature is the
work of Laurence E. Lynn Jr., Carolyn J. Heinrich, and Carolyn J. Hill (1999,
2001; Heinrich and Lynn 2000). Th eir work represents an ambitious synthesis
of the fi eld that attempts to articulate a broad-reaching research agenda and
provide the framework necessary to carry this agenda forward. Th ey suggest
that governance is a concept that has the potential to unify the sprawling public
management and public policy literature, investing it with common explan-
atory objectives and highlighting a critical contribution of a huge body of re-
search. Lynn and his colleagues argue that the basic question at the heart of all
governance-related research is this: “How can public-sector regimes, agencies,
programs and activities be organized and managed to achieve public purposes?”
(2001, 1).
Given the complex administrative arrangements that characterize the hollow
state, answering this question is an extraordinarily diffi cult challenge. Th ere is an
enormous amount of variation in rules, procedures, organization, and perfor-
mance among the dispersed and decentralized entities now involved in public
service provision. Th is variation occurs both within and across the jurisdiction of
cities, states, and nations. What accounts for this variation? Is it systematic? Will