Explaining Inter-local Collaboration and Regional Governance: The Institutional Collective Action Framework in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This panel debates the use of the Institutional Collective Action (ICA) framework to explain inter-local collaborative arrangements in a comparative perspective. The panel includes two theoretical papers and two empirical papers. The first pair focuses on different theoretical tenets of the ICA framework: the paper by Park et al. surveys the empirical literature addressing collective action dilemmas in the Asian context and suggests a research agenda for the study of inter-local collaboration in Asia and elsewhere, whereas the work by Carr et al. emphasizes different institutional arrangements designed to reduce the risks of collaborative service provision. The second pair of papers employs the ICA framework to analyze specific types of collaborative arrangements. The work by Eric Zeemering investigates the organization of collective action by local governments in the Canada-US border and how constitutional and legal structures influence this organization. The paper by Ramírez de la Cruz analyzes how the weakness or absence of formal and informal institutions affects coordination and cooperation between municipalities in the metropolitan area of Aguascalientes, Mexico. Together, this set of articles reveals the ICA framework as a powerful analytical tool to understand the variable geometry of inter-local collaboration across different settings.

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