Collaborative partnerships in complex institutional systems

Collaborative partnerships exist in the context of complex institutional systems that feature multiple institutions and actors interacting in the context of interconnected collective-action problems within ecosystems. How collaborative partnerships contribute to the overall capacity of complex institutional systems to sustainability govern natural resources remains an open question. This article reviews several theoretical approaches for studying complex institutional systems, and discusses how collaborative partnerships would be viewed from these perspectives. The approaches covered include neo-institutional economics, polycentric governance, complex adaptive systems, and evolutionary models of institutional change. The conclusion calls for synthetic theoretical frameworks that integrate many of these ideas, and identifies the research on social-ecological systems as a promising direction.