Co-governance or Meta-Bureaucracy? Perspectives of local governance ‘partnership’ in England and Scotland

This paper assesses the nature and practice of local partnership working in England and Scotland. Within the multi-agency context of governance, the discussion considers whether local partnerships constitute active co governance or a new form of meta-bureaucracy. Using original case-study evidence from English and Scottish local partnership areas, the paper examines partnership working through the lens of the four theses of governance. It finds little to suggest that English and Scottish practice is significantly at variance, and advances an argument that state actors remain pre-eminent within increasingly formalised systems of partnership and co- governance.