An Interpretive-emergent-holistic Approach for Collaborative Governance an Interpretive-emergent-holistic Approach for Collaborative Governance

In this paper, we intend to propose a novel pathway for achieving systems thinking—a prerequisite for strategic management—in the context of collaborative governance. This novel pathway, namely an interpretive-emergent-holistic approach, is grounded in complex adaptive systems framework and aimed at leveraging the computational power of today’s information technology in providing rigorous, systematic understanding of the complex nature of collaborative governance. The defining feature of collaborative governance is the direct engagement of non-state stakeholders in a collective decisionmaking process for challenging social problems. While its potential has been well discussed, three major analytical challenges need to be addressed to gain in-depth understanding of success factors and pitfalls of collaborative governance and subsequently to advise practitioners in harvesting benefits from this promising governance structure. We finished this paper with discussing practical questions in implementing this approach.