1.4 Steering Coordination
Where the motivations for interagency coordination are low, or where barriers are substantive, coordination may not autonomously emerge and may need to be steered by outside forces. At the international level, coordination across organizations may be motivated by public pressure and linkages such as incentives or sanctions from other fields beyond that being coordinated. In polycentric systems, when barriers or concerns regarding coordination between agencies are strong, higher levels of government can encourage lower levels of government to coordinate through information-based, incentive-based, and mandate-based approaches.19,23,24
Information-based approaches to steering coordination involve pressures, encouragement, and the provision of knowledge that can facilitate coordination or reduce the transaction costs of coordination. These approaches may involve aspirational statements aimed at generating interest in support for coordination. For example, a public statement to pursue a goal may incentivize coordination if the statement sparks other agencies with overlapping goals or activities to initiate conversations. Information-based approaches can also provide guidance regarding what coordination needs to occur or how coordination could be useful. For example, states may provide local-level governments with databases and information on potential partner agencies in order to lower the transaction costs associated with initiating coordination processes.
Coordination can also be incentivized through the provision or withholding of resources. Such incentive-based approaches may include the provision of financial or technical assistance in order to coordinate. These may come in the form of 1) grants to fund the process of coordinating, 2) grants and loans contingent upon agencies coordinating, 3) advice and training on coordination, or 4) relaxation of standards or costs for agencies that work together. For example, California makes grants available for agencies to coordinate in development of integrated water resources management plans and then has additional funding available for implementation of coordinated projects. While incentive-based approaches to steering coordination may foster coordination, they may also lead to nominal coordination that meets the bare minimum requirements of the incentive, without extending beyond it.
Lastly, coordination may be mandated via legislation, regulation, or the courts. Mandates may specify a forum for coordination such as the requirement for organizations to participate in a newly created network or forum. For instance, a state may create an annual meeting amongst each county within the state to give reports on the past year’s water needs, crises and future broadcasts for their regions. Mandates may also take the form of laws that require reporting on coordination or production of joint plans. Mandates can entail joint performance standards that organizations are unable to meet without coordination. Coordination mandates can only be used to steer coordination when a higher-level government has the jurisdictional authority over lower-level agencies in a way that allows it to create the mandate. Additionally, mandates may be difficult to monitor and enforce.