Transnational approaches to improving public services:the case of the open government partnership

In this chapter, the authors argue that transnational multistakeholder partnerships can foster government reform in complex and unexpected ways that have previously received limited study. Taking the case of the Open Government Partnership, which is a transnational partnership of over 180 national, regional, and municipal governments, the authors examine direct and indirect pathways of reform. Direct pathways come about using the formal levers and ‘commitments’ of participation such as commissioning new policy initiatives and adhering to stipulated deadlines and governance procedures. Indirect pathways, on the other hand, are processes and events that are generated internally as side effects of the very actions of membership and participation. The Open Government Partnership has a specific approach to participation that seems to catalyze these indirect pathways, and which provides a model for thinking about international multi-level governance in positive public administration (PPA). The chapter argues that public administration scholars and practitioners should look to both of these pathways of reform as possible means to achieve positive public administration outcomes at the domestic level.