Blueprints or sketches? State laws for collaborative governance

Collaborative governance captures the attention of policymakers because it offers alternative pathways for addressing complex problems. However, little is known about how laws operationalize collaborative governance. Based on a content analysis of Oregon state laws, we develop an analytical framework for assessing how laws shape collaborative governance at the regime and platform levels and across multiple policy areas (economic development, education, health, natural resources, and public safety). The framework clusters 12 variables into 4 categories of analysis: general specifications, stakeholder engagement, administrative capacity, and performance management. Overall, our results indicate that laws about collaborative governance are generally vague and more constitutive than regulative in nature. We provide implications for scholarship and practice, along with several new avenues for future research.