What makes civil society public partnerships work? An example from reception of asylum seeking minors in Gothenburg city

The recent challenges of major immigration flows and other wicked social challenges in Sweden have contributed to reinventing new forms of local governance – collaborative partnerships between public and non-profit actors... [ view full abstract ]

The recent challenges of major immigration flows and other wicked social challenges in Sweden have contributed to reinventing new forms of local governance – collaborative partnerships between public and non-profit actors (IOP) as a third-way alternative to contracts and traditional state grants. Being an organisational innovation this form of governance aims at more qualitative, targeted and participatory service delivery by service co-creation. The aim of the article is to explore how this new type of governance copes with a major puzzle – sustaining a partnership, more specifically, through balancing the different roles and value basis ascribed to public and civil society realms. The article questions whether and how IOP may enable civil society a more active role in welfare policies and services without undermining their distinctiveness. The arguments of the article are based on a case study of currently the largest IOP in Sweden for unaccompanied minors in Gothenburg city. The Gothenburg partnership is explored against collaboration norms in the Swedish Compact and norms of balanced relations suggested by previous research and found to live up to their major expectations. We conclude based on Gothenburg experiences that there is a potential of a new evolving pattern of post-contractual relations to address the challenges of social investment especially in local contexts.