Pathways to collaborative performance: examining the different combinations of conditions under which collaborations are successful

The literature on collaborative governance has generated several comprehensive models detailing the conditions which collaborations must meet to achieve collaborative performance. The importance of each separate condition – such as the presence of incentives to participate, appropriate institutional designs, or facilitative leadership – has been validated in various studies. How all of these conditions interact with each other, and whether all of the conditions need to be present to achieve performance, is less well understood. Leveraging the rich resource of the newly created Collaborative Governance Case Database, this article explores the different pathways to performance used by 26 local collaborations. The analysis shows that the presence of strong incentives for partners to collaborate is a crucial condition for success; almost all performing cases shared this starting point. Performance was then achieved by combining strong incentives with either clear institutional design (e.g. explicit rules, transparent decision-making) or with intensive collaborative processes (e.g. face-to-face dialogue, knowledge sharing). This analysis shows that the current models for collaborative governance can serve as roadmaps, laying out all of the different conditions than may be important, but that collaborations can follow different routes to reach their objectives

Examining agency governance in the European Union financial sector – a case-study of the European Securities and Markets Authority

Ever since the outset of the financial crisis of 2009, agencies have emerged as key actors of European Union (EU) financial sector governance. As an organisational form that can be insulated from national political pressures, and committed to the Union interest, agencies proliferated in the financial sector ushering the agencification trend in finance. In this sense, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) – as part of the European Supervisory Authorities – practically embodies this trend. ESMA presents a radical shift in financial markets’ governance due to the nature of its soft law regulations and the direct impact it exerts on addressees’ behaviour in emergency circumstances. But ESMA’s success in optimising financial sector governance largely depends on its legitimacy, which is centred on independence. At the same time independence demands wider participation and inclusiveness of the decision-making process. This is not easy to achieve in a complex system with multiple stakeholders as is the governance of the EU financial sector (e.g., EU institutions, national actors, private sector). This paper examines ESMA’s interinstitutional relations and independence in light of publicly voiced criticism. We find that ESMA’s main executive bodies are still susceptible to influences by Member States as well as EU institutions (i.e., Commission), which undermines its operational independence

Stageverslag: Zomer van het recht: verslag van een stage bij het Rwanda Tribunaal

"Some of the most important work at the moment is being done by the International Criminal/ Tribunals /or Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. With recent convictions /or genocide, rape, war crimes and crimes against humanity, we are witnessing important steps /or accountability and against impunity.&quot