ABSTRACT
The capacity of a municipality to develop an effective, focused partnership is often strongly shaped by a sound external operating context. Municipalities do not operate in a vacuum. In most situations a number of the factors determining this context will be outside municipal control, and as with other municipal actions decision-makers must adapt their approach to respond to the opportunities and constraints of the broader context. Politics, economic realities, policy and regulatory frameworks, and the political and administrative relationships between local government and other levels of government all play important roles.
