POLICY INNOVATION UNIT
October 2005
"Long gone are rigid demarcations between public, private
and voluntary sectors,… Government has to become an
instrument of empowerment…working in partnership with
others, to deliver clear outcomes"
Tony Blair, 2004
To be successful we recognise that we must operate in
Partnership with the other key stakeholders in society – the
private, the voluntary and the community sectors. The
delivery of our Programme for Government must harness the
energy, dedication and resource of these stakeholders in
genuine partnership to build a more tolerant, participative
and inclusive society.
Northern Ireland Executive's First Programme for
Government, 2001
"Too much of a good thing, any good thing, can turn sour.
Partnership today is almost everybody's 'good thing'. It
certainly has great benefits, and more and more as we gain
experience. But it is neither consistently good nor pervasively
beneficial. We must judge partnership, like everything else for
itself, for better and for worse"
Mintzberg et al, 1996