Top-down government is losing its predominance as the primary method to deliver public services and fulfill public policy goals in America. Emerging in its place is a fundamentally different approach, in which government executives are redefining their core responsibilities away from managing government workers and programs to orchestrating both independent and public organizations to deliver services. Government agencies are becoming less important as direct service providers, and more vital as levers of the public good. This new model, which the authors call "governing by network," is characterized by the web of relationships and partnerships that increasingly constitutes modern governance. Governing by Network, examines for the first time government's transformation from centralized control over public programs to facilitating services through networks of nongovernmental entities, as seen through the experience of dozens of public innovators. The book demonstrates how managing a portfolio of provider networks is a dramatically different endeavor from managing divisions of employees. Like any change of such magnitude, it poses major challenges for those in charge. Tackling them requires a form of public management different from what we have become accustomed to over the past century. Networked government represents a fundamental transformation in how governments fulfill policy goals and deliver services. This book presents the important principles of governing by network learned from case studies, providing a roadmap for actually governing the networked state. Drawing from dozens of case studies, as well as established best practices, it aims to develop lessons to inform electedofficials, business executives, and the broader public.

A fundamental, but mostly hidden, transformation is happening in the way public services are being delivered, and in the way local and national governments fulfill their policy goals. Government executives are redefining their core responsibilities away from managing workers and providing services directly to orchestrating networks of public, private, and nonprofit organizations to deliver the services that government once did itself. Authors Stephen Goldsmith and William D. Eggers call this new model governing by network and maintain that the new approach is a dramatically different type of endeavor that simply managing divisions of employees. Like any changes of such magnitude, it poses major challenges for those in charge. Faced by a web of relationships and partnerships that increasingly make up modern governance, public managers must grapple with skill-set issues (managing a contract to capture value); technology issues (incompatible information systems); communications issues (one partner in the network, for example, might possess more information than another); and cultural issues (how interplay among varied public, private, and nonprofit sector cultures can create unproductive dissonance). Governing by Network examines for the first time how managers on both sides of the aisle, public and private, are coping with the changes. Drawing from dozens of case studies, as well as established best practices, the authors tell us what works and what doesnt. Here is a clear roadmap for actually governing the networked state for elected officials, business executives, and the broader public.

"Goldsmith and Eggers offer a penetrating and insightful treatment of how to make the new collaborative and networked approach to government actually work. We are in the process of rewriting the rules of public management, and this book is a major contribution."

--Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School

"***Special cloth price for federal government employees: $20. Purchasher must be identified as a government employee, and the mailing address must be a federal agency. Call customer service at 1-800-275-1447 or (202) 797-6258 to take advantage of this offer.***

" Goldsmith and Eggers offer a penetrating and insightful treatment of how to make the new collaborative and networked approach to government actually work. We are in the process of rewriting the rules of public management, and this book is a major contribution." <BR>-- Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School "***Special cloth price for federal government employees: $20. Purchasher must be identified as a government employee, and the mailing address must be a federal agency. Call customer service at 1-800-275-1447 or (202) 797-6258 to take advantage of this offer.***"

The era of hierarchical, centralized government is coming to a close. In its place, networks between government agencies, NGOs, and the private sector will deliver public goods more effectively. Coined by the authors as "networked government," this book presents the experience of public innovators and provides a vital blueprint for this radical shift in public management. Goldsmith is faculty director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's JFK School of Government and is the former mayor of Indianapolis.