Partnerships for sustainable development: a review of current literature

Abstract Academic interest in intersectoral partnerships took off in the mid-1990s and the number of publications on this topic has increased rapidly since. This article reviews current academic knowledge on partnerships for sustainable development. This review defines intersectoral partnerships as ‘collaborative arrangements in which actors from two or more spheres of society (state, market and civil society) are involved in a non-hierarchical process, and through which these actors strive for a sustainability goal’. We observe two major perspectives in the partnership literature, focusing on different aspects of the partnership phenomenon and addressing quite distinct questions. The first, the institutional perspective, looks at partnerships as new arrangements in the environmental governance regime. The second, the actor perspective, frames partnerships as possible strategic instruments for the goal achievement and problem solving of individual actors. Our review is organized around these perspectives. We identify the research questions that are being addressed in partnership literature, assess the type of knowledge that has been acquired and identify prevailing knowledge gaps. Important conclusions are, firstly, that research on partnerships has delivered many insights in their functioning and their role in contemporary society. Secondly, the concepts of partnerships and sustainable development are more clearly linked discursively than empirically. The current knowledge base mostly lacks clear definitions of success and therefore criteria for the evaluation of partnerships. Therefore, future research should, on empirical instead of reasoned grounds, pay more attention to the link between intersectoral partnerships and sustainable development. Preferably this should be done in a way that combines the actor and the institutional perspective.