Facilitating inter-municipal collaboration through mandated collaborative platform: Evidence from regional environmental protection in China

This article argues for the need to go beyond appreciating hierarchy and network as separate coordination processes. Rather it conceptualizes a mandated platform approach to facilitate inter-municipal collaboration with little collaboration experi-ence and diverse interests. Based on a mandated regional platform in China, this article examines what an appropriate mandate is, and how network coordination evolves on this mandated platform. Practically, this study provides a potentially new coordination approach that integrates hierarchy and network. It also has important theoretical implications to enhance our understanding of hybrid coordination and collaborative governance in the public management field.