Study title

This collection presents data from 37 interviews' abstracts. These interviews were conducted in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) with key officials, public managers, community organizers and workers, representatives of Charity foundations, activists and trade unionists. This research aimed at understanding how austerity measures are affecting governance structures and collaboration between various actors: how are governance and collaboration structures coping with austerity and the tensions that derive from it? Very few, if any, of our respondent disagreed that a better "rigour" ("rigueur" is the euphemism commonly used by Quebec official to talk about austerity) is necessary in respect with public finances. But most of them rejected the way it was implemented: the authoritarianism of it, the lack of collaboration. What was most striking, in our results, is this consensus on the necessity to redefine the Welfare Model without any agreements on what new model of social solidarity should be implemented. This data collection presents the various trends within Montreal's civil society and local government that indicate what new model of social solidarity might emerge. This data collection is made up of the translated abstracts of the interview we've conducted. Austerity governance, defined as a sustained agenda for reducing public spending, poses new challenges for the organisation of relationships between government, business and citizens in many parts of the world. This project compares how these challenges are addressed in eight countries: Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Ireland, Spain, the UK and the USA. Governments have long sought effective ways of engaging citizen activists and business leaders in decision making, through many formal and informal mechanisms - what we term collaborative governance. The focus of our research is how collaboration contributes to the governance of austerity. Governments and public service leaders argue that collaboration with...