Call_for_papers_IPMJ (2010).pdf
Call for Papers
Symposium on “Collaborative Governance in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Trends, Issues and Perspectives”
Guest Editors
Yijia Jing, Fudan University (jingyj@fudan.edu.cn)
Trevor Brown, The Ohio State University (brown.2296@osu.edu)
Ting Gong, City University of Hong Kong (tgong2@cityu.edu.hk)
The International Public Management Journal and Fudan University in China invite proposed contributions to a symposium on collaborative governance in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Collaborative governance involves citizens, public and nonprofit organizations, private firms, and other actors collectively responding to public issues that cannot be handled effectively by a single entity. The promise of collaborative governance is that the whole is greater than the sum of the collective parts: a joint effort between complementary parts of different organizations can address the resource constraints faced by each individually, as well as generate activities, outputs and outcomes that no one organization could produce on its own. Collaborative governance can be imposed (e.g. by regulation), induced (e.g. by contracts), or organically created (e.g. by mutual agreement). Like all forms of organization, collaborative governance is constructed in a specific context that incorporates different combinations of economic, social, political and cultural factors. The proposed symposium will examine collaborative governance in an important, but understudied context: China.
China’s rapid liberalization of its formerly collectivized economy can create the impression that the Chinese context for collaborative governance is consistent with societies that have pursued Western models of transformation. China’s economy has opened up in dramatic ways but the Chinese government still heavily regulates the nonprofit sector and constrains civil society. Despite repeated large-scale administrative reforms in the public sector, the socialist political system remains entrenched. A strong state with an extensive reach continues to promote a collective, Confucian culture. In short, China has a relatively free and rapidly growing economy bursting with new economic partnerships and joint ventures, but a highly regulated civil society with very few nonprofit organizations and a rigid, bureaucratic public sector remain. This uncommon combination provides an intriguing context for examining collaborative governance.
Through examination of emerging trends and issues in collaborative governance in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, this symposium will assess whether collaborative governance exists in China and if it will take root. The symposium will also examine whether current Western conceptions of collaborative governance fit the Chinese context and whether there is a newly emergent “Chinese” model of collaborative governance.
The symposium requests proposals for high-quality, theory-driven research papers. Both conceptual and empirical studies are welcome. Comparative studies across jurisdictions of China or between China and other countries are also welcome. Research topics might include, but are not limited to, the following:
· Conceptualizations of collaborative governance
· Collaborative practices in various policy areas
· Institution-building for collaborative governance
· Government-business collaboration
· Government-nonprofit collaboration
· Network governance
· Factor/variables that determine the results of collaboration
· Performance management and accountability in collaboration
· Contract management
· Integrity management and anticorruption in collaboration
Single-spaced paper proposals of no more than two-pages in length should be submitted to Trevor Brown (brown.2296@osu.edu) by December 1, 2010. Each proposal should include the following information: (1) author(s) name, title and institutional affiliation; and (2) paper title, research question, relevant theories, research design and methods, data and potential findings. Conceptual papers should be built on an explicit theoretical framework that includes well-specified conceptual definitions, key assumptions, a systematic causal logic, and hypotheses, if appropriate. Acceptance decisions will be made by January 30, 2011.
Approximately 10-15 proposals will be selected to participate in a conference to be held on June 17, 2011 at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs (SIRPA) of Fudan University in Shanghai, China. Accepted participants should submit their papers to Yijia Jing (jingyj@fudan.edu.cn) by May 17, 2011. Local accommodations will be provided for all accepted participants. After the conference, revised manuscripts will undergo full blind peer review for potential publication in a special symposium issue of the International Public Management Journal in 2012.