Sammanfattning

Facilitators of collaborative governance structure communication between stakeholders. They influence the process and, in some instances, also the outcome of collaborative governance. Even so, facilitators are, in the literature and in practice, most often reduced to being neutral or seen merely as power sharers. This reductive understanding obscures facilititators' use of power. The purpose of this paper is to outline a nuanced understanding of authority in facilitation practice. We analyse a Swedish collaborative governance process where a governmental agency facilitates collaboration between actors with conflicting interests. We combine the work of Hannah Arendt and Mark Warren to study authority as relationally performed. We find that facilitators' use of power takes the form of a pendulum movement between authority and argumentation. Hence, authority and argumentation are linked, rather than incompatible, in facilitation practice. This paper sheds new light on the unrecognised, and yet influential, leadership role that facilitators play.

Nyckelord

authority; facilitation; collaborative governance; natural resource management; dialogue; power

Publicerad i

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning
2023,

SLU författare

• Westin, Martin

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Hallgren, Lars

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Montgomerie, Emily

  • Institutionen för stad och land, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

SDG16 Främja fredliga och inkluderande samhällen för hållbar utveckling, tillhandahålla tillgång till rättvisa för alla samt bygga upp effektiva, och inkluderande institutioner med ansvarsutkrävande på alla nivåer


UKÄ forskningsämne

Statsvetenskap (exklusive studier av offentlig förvaltning och globaliseringsstudier)


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09640568.2023.2174835

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/121698