Collaborative Governance for Public Social Innovation: The case of Gipuzkoa Basque Country

Abstract

Globalization and its conditions of development have brought about a new political agenda characterized by the need to address social challenges. Similarly, the crisis of liberal democracy has highlighted the need for new models for the management of public space and public policies. This article addresses the concept of collaborative governance as a mechanism to stimulate collective processes of deliberation through the establishment of formal, consensus-oriented decisions to identify priorities and generate lines of action in the territories. Within this framework, the article presents the practical experience of collaborative governance, ‘Etorkizuna Eraikiz’, a program designed and implemented by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, and explains the structural elements that comprise the program and analyzes the functioning of the model in which it is framed.