Lihi Lahat (Sapir Academic College, Israel & Concordia University, Montreal)

Lihi Lahat is Associate Professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Sapir Academic College, Israel, and Affiliate Associate Professor at Concordia University, Montreal. Her research focuses on collaborative governance, public-sector employees, and the effects of policies on time use and well-being. She co-edited Collaborative Governance: Theory and Lessons from Israel (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and served as academic co-director of the collaborative governance research group at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Her work has appeared in leading journals, including Policy Sciences, Public Administration Review, Public Management Review, and Policy Design and Practice. She holds a PhD in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University and has been a visiting fellow at UC Berkeley, Michigan State University, and the European University Institute.

Course: Bridging the Divide: Collaborative Governance and Policy Process Theories

This course explores how collaborative governance and policy process theories can be integrated to deepen understanding of policy processes. First, the course will explore the collaborative governance literature and its contributions to understanding the design and implementation of public policy. We will draw on examples of collaboration across different contexts and fields. Second, the course will delve into major policy process theories (multiple streams framework, advocacy coalition framework, punctuated equilibrium theory, institutional analysis and development, narrative policy framework, etc.) and their views on collaboration and its implications for policy outcomes. We will address questions such as: Where, when, and why does collaboration appear in policy processes? What is its significance, how well does it work, where it might fail, and what normative challenges does it entail? Last, the course will examine how better integration of collaborative governance and policy process theories might improve our understanding of policy processes.