Local government partnership working: a space odyssey. Or, journeys through the dilemmas of public and private sector boundary-spanning actors

Abstract

In this article we explore the dilemmas experienced by boundary-spanning actors working at the intersection of local government and the private sector. We suggest that these dilemmas are entwined with the disruption, transformation and reproduction of local government traditions. We utilise structuration theory to understand how agency is both constrained and enabled by traditions and how such agency in turn affects traditions. In drawing on the accounts of both public and private sector actors in one English region over a 10-year period, we decentre the public sector and reveal the flux inherent in working across different traditions of practice.