Collaborative Partnership: A Business-Factor in Forming a State Policy

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the behavioral patterns of private sector representatives for involving them in an effective partnership as part of a collaborative governance regime. The trend towards cooperation between the public sector, business, and civil society is gaining momentum due to the lack of own resources, the growing level of interdependence, and the benefits of equal risk sharing. However, critics of such a format of interaction draw attention to the possible power disproportion and the potential formation of a political course focused on the expectations of the private sector only. This ambivalence of views actualizes the consideration of issues related to the identification of ideal collaborative partners capable of directing efforts to jointly seek consensus solutions. Particular attention is focused on the differences between collaboration, public-private partnerships, and the privatization of public facilities as phenomena often presented as synonymous concepts due to the presence of common elements. Highlighting the types of political behavior, the author notes that the collaborative business partner must, firstly, recognize the importance of the problem, secondly, organically combine their benefits with the achievement of public results, and thirdly, focus on partnership agreements. The article provides examples of each political reaction of socio-economic actors, as well as the practice of collaborative partnership in the field of environmental policy and green energy. It is argued that by encouraging private sector cooperation on contentious policy issues, public entities may adopt a different policy format that applies to the whole community than the chosen social cohort, and therefore tends to achieve greater results. Given the insufficient study of collaborative partnership and its potential participants, the author claims the need for further comparative research on this range of issues.