Corporate Governance in a Collaborative Environment: what happens when government, business and civil society work together?*

This paper discusses the findings of a study undertaken by a team from the University of Birmingham's Institute for Local Government Studies (INLOGOV), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The research explores the implications for democratic practice of collaborative working through partnership arrangements in the public sector. Through a study of multi-organisational partnerships in two local authority areas, the research identifies a problem for policy makers to address: partnerships are flexible management tools, but exhibit a democratic deficit in terms of the rules and procedures of public governance when measured against a benchmark of elected local government. Partnerships are in, but not of, the community.