Partnerships and networked governance

In Chapter One, Powell and Glendinning discussed the significance of partnerships for the new Labour government in the UK, which was, at the time of writing, starting its second term of office. Notwithstanding the definitional difficulties of the concept of ‘partnership’ working within the welfare state, they asserted that the emphasis within New Labour rhetoric and policy on collaboration, partnership, cooperation and other associated terms (Huxham, 2000; Ling, 2000; Balloch and Taylor, 2001), meant that a critical focus on the theory and evidence of partnerships was necessary. One aim of this book was to establish whether what Newman calls “a powerful discourse of inclusion and collaboration which [is] central to Labour's attempt to forge a consensual style of politics” (Newman, 2001, p 104) can be reconciled with an arguably equal powerful pragmatic discourse underpinning New Labour's policies, the drive towards evidence-based policy (Davies, 2000).

This chapter will address some of the issues raised by the theoretical discussions and empirical evidence presented in the contributions to this book. Is partnership working a distinctive feature of New Labour policy and practice? What conclusions can be drawn from the evidence presented in Chapters Five to Fourteen about partnership working – is it possible to identify common themes that might take us towards a unifying, overarching theory of partnership working, or are there significant factors that differentiate between different types of partnerships? If so, what are these factors? Are they context specific or are there unifying themes that systematically and consistently characterise partnerships of different kinds? What is the relationship between partnership and the governance of welfare? And finally, what lessons can be drawn from the theory and evidence presented here about the development of partnerships and their role in the delivery of welfare in the 21st century?

Partnerships: new, distinctive, New Labour?

While it can be reasonably asserted that partnership working is at the heart of New Labour's ideology, there is a much less compelling argument to be made that it is particular to New Labour, or even, in some cases, a particularly radical departure from previous ideologies, policies and practice. All of the authors in Chapters Five to Fourteen cite evidence of long histories of effort towards collaborative working between the sectors described in their respective chapters, even if that previous effort had limited success.