区域公共事务协作治理是国家治理的重要方面，是当代公共管理面临的一个重大的理论与实践问题。政府间关系（Intergovernmental Relations，IGR）是现代国家治理体系的重要组成部分，是理解区域公共事务治理的一种重要途径。政府间关系的法治化是中国国家治理制度转型的一个非常重要的内容。随着中国国家治理体系和治理能力现代化建设的加快推进以及区域一体化和新型城镇化的快速发展，传统计划经济体制下的政府间关系模式逐步向现代市场经济体制下的政府间关系模式转型。以边界为基础的政府间关系在全球化、区域化、工业化、信息化、市场化和民主化快速发展的时代背景下发生了重要变革，取而代之的是一种政府间协作治理网络途径。

法律是治国之重器，良法是善治之前提。美国州际协议研究的政治和行政意义在于：借鉴美国合理的政府间协议治理的法律制度因素，完善转型期我国政府间协议治理机制的法律制度框架，促进政府间协议治理走向法治化、制度化和规范化，重构政府间合作共赢的和谐关系。美国《联邦宪法》确立了法治导向的政府间关系制度框架。联邦制在联邦政府与多个成员州政府之间进行法治化的政治分权，自然地产生了各成员州政府间的关系，即州际关系（Interstate Relations）。州际关系是联邦制下一种重要的政府间关系，构成横向联邦主义（Horizontal Federalism）的重要内容。州际竞争与合作是联邦制的内在特征。虽然美国的50个州同在一个联邦体系内，但由于各州的立法、行政、司法在共和政体的原则下各自创造，从指导原则到运作程序都不尽相同，所以州际关系远比单一制国家下的省际关系复杂，州际关系不仅有行政关系，而且有立法关系和司法关系，后两重关系往往是前一重关系的基础。

州际协议（Interstate Compacts）是美国联邦制下州际关系协调的法治化契约安排，被视为一种最重要的跨州区域公共事务协作治理机制。州际协议是最古老的州际合作机制，它在美国殖民地时代就已具有深厚的根源和基础。本书将州际协议（Interstate Compacts）视为美国联邦制下一种政府间法律契约治理制度。美国《联邦宪法》“协议”条款（The Compact Clause）在国家治理制度层面构建了州际协议的宪治原则框架。按照《联邦宪法》“协议”条款，州际协议由两个或者多个州通过谈判和协商缔结，并经国会同意和批准，缔约各州受《联邦宪法》“协议”条款和“契约”条款约束，就像商业交易中双方或者多方当事人受契约约束一样。这是一种有法律约束力的州际合作形式。它使美国的州与州能够按照宪治原则框架，通过订立州际政府间法律契约来分配和分享权力、权利和责任，使所有权力和权利的行使既受到积极激励，也受到严格约束和监督，以维护联邦秩序。

美国《联邦宪法》“协议”条款的出台为州际关系发展创造了广阔的舞台，成为合作联邦主义发展的一种强有力的法律制度，极大地促进了美国建国后州际区域合作关系的稳定快速发展。遵循州际协议宪法制度框架，州与州之间通过契约基础而非科层权威把它们自己联合起来形成自主治理的政府间协作网络，有力地推动了跨州区域公共事务协作治理，有助于整合和增强美国州政府的区域公共治理能力，在区域层面上促进了美国国家的政治经济社会整合。在今天的美国，就大多数州际共同事务、争端与冲突而言，都可以通过州际协议机制得到解决。州际协议被认为是解决州际边界和其他争端，促进各州通过资源整合与联合行动解决跨州区域共同问题的一种强有力的合作机制。州际协议也因此得到了前所未有的广泛运用，成为美国州政府治理的一种重要工具。州与州之间这种相互交往的意义是非常重要的：更多的州日益联合组织跨州区域制度性协作治理行动，那就更有潜力去解决区域性和全国性的公共事务与公共政策问题。

从公共治理的制度层面来说，相对于在割裂、闭合和有界的单位行政区域内形成的各自为政的单中心管理模式而言，州际协议机制既超越了自发性的市场调节机制，又突破了传统的分割和对立的公共管理体制，是一种突破单一行政管辖区和整合行政资源的区域横向一体化空间内的协作治理模式。这种公共治理模式实质上是多个州政府为适应治理跨州区域共同事务的要求而进行的政府间关系制度化建构与行为调整：构建一种包括共同权益、协作机制和有法律约束力的承诺的跨州公共治理关系网络。美国州际协议的成功实践证明了许多州际区域公共问题能够通过集体性和合作性的方式治理，也证明了州际协议作为促进区域性和全国性州际协作的基本法律机制拥有巨大发展潜力。

州际协议代表一种横向政府间法律契约，而契约的执行和管理在许多方面根本不同于传统科层制管理方式，并且需要不同的理论来解释。本书基于协作治理理论视角，运用定性研究方法，通过构建一个基于“协商—承诺—执行”重复系列博弈行动的协作治理过程分析框架，力图从理论上回答如下问题：州际协议历史变迁的内在逻辑和发展动力是什么，在州际协议缔结过程和执行过程中成员州政府主体如何开展州际区域协作治理行动。本书综合运用理论研究、实证研究、历史分析和文本研究等方法，以《里帕布里肯河流域协议》（The Republican River Compact of 1943，简称RRC，该河流流经美国中部科罗拉多、堪萨斯和内布拉斯加三个州）为案例，进行分析性叙事和理论阐释，从理论与实践相结合的角度，勾画出美国跨州区域治理中政府间协作的知识图景：法治化、多层次、网络化的政府间关系治理模式。

首先，制度变迁是理解历史变迁的关键。本书从协作联邦主义制度演化的角度梳理州际协议历史演变的基本路径：起源于殖民地时代的“协议”程序，初步发展于《邦联条例》“协议”条款，《联邦宪法》“协议”条款则推动了州际协议的法治化、制度化和正式化发展。从一定意义上说，州际协议是美国国家历史发展的产物，其历史演变具有自发性制度变迁和强制性制度变迁相结合的特点。在分析完州际协议的历史演变之后，从州际协议的政策功能（边界管辖政策、分配政策、规制政策和再分配政策）特征和成员结构特征两个维度，将州际协议划分为十种类型，指出州际河流协议是所有州际协议类型中的一种重要协议，已成为美国流域公共治理的重要机制。

其次，对州际协议缔结和实施过程中的政府间关系协调机制的思考，构成了本书理论建构的基本线索。本书构建协作治理过程框架，以《里帕布里肯河流域协议》（RRC）为例，分析州际协议的背景因素，解释州际协议谈判、协商、承诺达成和实施过程，重新解读了政府间协作治理过程模型。本书通过典型案例，证明了作为美国跨州区域公共事务治理制度安排的州际协议的重要价值与意义。以州际协议为依托，美国各州在跨州区域治理过程中建构起州际协作治理的法治化框架。州际协议缔结过程、实施过程和争端治理过程通过“协商—承诺—执行”重复系列博弈行动演化，美国州际流域治理中政府间协作行动制度在实践中形成了一个谱系。从“政府间协议”到“政府间协商”“政府间调解”，再到“政府间仲裁”和“政府间诉讼”，州际流域协议争端治理结构的层级化程度渐趋提高。交易成本是一个影响上述五种协调治理机制选择的重要因素。这五种协调机制都作为跨州区域公共事务协作治理制度安排的复合体起着重要作用，形成一种开放、动态的政府间关系协调法律制度框架。这意味着有效的治理体系必须在一定的治理结构下转化为实际治理能力，这就是治理制度重要性和有效性的重要体现。

再次，综合分析美国州际协议成长的政治、经济、文化和社会生态环境。在任何国家，国家治理结构都是基于一定的历史—社会—文化—生态环境综合条件的发展而成的。美国州际协议的成功之处在于其精密化的宪法制度设计，充分贯彻了联邦制中国家主义（国家性）与契约主义（联邦性）、授权激励与限权约束、分权与制衡、民主与法治、自治与共治等基本原则。本书对美国州际协议中所蕴含的区域公共治理体制做了深入分析，解释了对丰富区域公共管理理论具有重要学术价值的跨州区域政府间协作治理逻辑，指出其对于我国区域一体化、新型城镇化进程中政府间关系协调和区域合作治理创新都有重要的启迪和借鉴价值。

任何国家治理制度设计必须立足本国国情。美国联邦制下的政府间关系制度虽然不同于我国单一制下的政府间关系制度，但协调政府间关系和治理区域公共事务所面临的许多问题一样，就是如何通过政府间协作（横向和纵向）提供优质、高效的公共物品和公共服务，提升政府治理效能。美国《联邦宪法》“协议”条款和州际协议的成功实践为我国宪法相关内容的出台提供了许多有益的经验和借鉴。本书主张学习和借鉴美国州际协议的成功经验，要基于行政生态学视角，从中国国情和经验借鉴的效果出发审视美国州际协议的经验及其普适性局限，立足于当前我国特定的“历史—社会—文化”生态环境，以及在明确我国区域协同发展中省际协议与美国州际协议在国家治理制度环境和实践基础方面的差异性的基础上，深度思考我国区域发展中政府间关系协调机制顶层设计以及区域协作治理创新的约束条件和激励因素，提出进一步健全和完善我国区域政府间关系协调的法治机制的思路与对策，促进新时期我国区域治理体系和治理能力现代化。

本书的选题独特且有新意，研究思维兼具历史观和国际视野，具有一定的学术意义与应用价值。本项研究采用了新制度经济学和博弈论的分析方法，特别是利用新制度经济学的思维方法、概念和理论来研究美国州际协议治理制度的历史演变、实践运行过程。交易成本是理解美国州际协议治理过程的一个基本概念和分析单位。本成果通过跨州流域协议治理实践案例，比较具体地解读了区域政府间协作治理过程模型，丰富了对于协作治理理论的认知。对于州际流域协议争端治理机制的整体性模式研究，不仅有助于在协作治理中展开公共冲突治理的讨论，在公共治理的其他研究领域同样具有较强的适用性。以比较公共管理角度看，本书有重要的学术价值。本书在分析美国州际协议治理制度历史演变和设计的同时，引入生态治理（Ecological Governance）分析方法，比较系统地关注了历史—社会—政治—经济—文化等多元生态环境的综合作用，丰富了对州际协议作为美国联邦制下一种重要的区域公共治理机制的认识，不仅对于区域公共管理研究内容的深化和研究视野的拓展具有重要的理论意义，而且对于我国政府间关系协调机制的法治化建设和区域合作治理机制创新都有重要的启迪和借鉴价值。

本书是在我的博士学位论文《协作性公共管理视野下的美国州际协议研究：以里帕布里肯河流域协议为例》的基础上修改而成。感谢导师陈瑞莲教授为博士学位论文的选题、研究和完稿所给予的精心指导和帮助，感谢美国内布拉斯加（奥马哈）大学公共行政学系Dale Krane教授给予的指导。同时，感谢厦门大学陈振明教授、中山大学马骏教授、清华大学孟庆国教授给予的指导和帮助。本书是我主持完成的国家社会科学基金后期资助项目《美国州际协议研究：理论基础与经验借鉴》（项目批准号：13FZZ011）的结项成果。感谢国家社会科学基金后期资助项目为本研究成果提供后期研究和出版资助。感谢国家留学基金资助、教育部人文社会科学研究青年基金项目（项目批准号：10YJC630175）资助和中央高校基本科研业务费专项资金资助（项目批准号：2013221018）以及中国博士后科学基金特别资助项目（项目编号：201104087）的支持。感谢中国社会科学出版社及策划编辑孔继萍女士为本书的出版付出的辛勤工作。书中参考和引用了许多学者、机构的研究成果和材料，大都在注释和参考文献中标出，在此表示谢意。

吕志奎

2015年5月1日于厦门大学白城

Collaborative governance of regional public affairs is an important aspect of national governance and a major theoretical and practical issue facing contemporary public management. Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) is an important part of the modern national governance system and an important way to understand regional public affairs governance. The rule of law in intergovernmental relations is a very important part of the transformation of China's national governance system. With the acceleration of the modernization of China's national governance system and governance capacity, as well as the rapid development of regional integration and new-type urbanization, the intergovernmental relationship model under the traditional planned economy system has gradually transformed into the intergovernmental relationship model under the modern market economy system. Border-based intergovernmental relations have undergone important changes in the context of the rapid development of globalization, regionalization, industrialization, informatization, marketization and democratization, and have been replaced by an intergovernmental collaborative governance network approach. Law is the most important instrument of governance, and good law is a prerequisite for good governance. The political and administrative significance of the study of interstate agreements in the United States lies in drawing on the reasonable legal system factors of intergovernmental agreement governance in the United States, improving the legal institutional framework of the governance mechanism of the agreement between the governments during the transition period, promoting the rule of law, institutionalization and standardization of the governance of intergovernmental agreements, and reconstructing the harmonious relationship of win-win intergovernmental cooperation. The U.S. Constitution establishes an institutional framework for rule-of-law-oriented intergovernmental relations. Federalism is a political separation of powers between the federal government and the governments of several member states, which naturally produces the relationship between the member state governments, that is, interstate relations. Interstate relations are an important intergovernmental relationship under federalism and constitute an important part of Horizontal Federalism. Interstate competition and cooperation are intrinsic features of federalism. Although the 50 states in the United States are in the same federal system, because the legislative, executive, and judicial organs of each state are created under the principle of a republican form of government, from the guiding principles to the operating procedures, the interstate relationship is far more complex than the interprovincial relationship under the unitary state, and the interstate relationship has not only administrative relationship, but also legislative relationship and judicial relationship, and the latter two relationships are often the basis of the former relationship. Interstate Compacts is a rule-of-law contractual arrangement for the coordination of interstate relations under the federal system of the United States, and is regarded as one of the most important cross-state regional public affairs collaborative governance mechanisms. Interstate agreements are the oldest interstate cooperative mechanism, which has deep roots and foundations since the American colonial era. This book views Interstate Compacts as an intergovernmental legal contract governance system under the U.S. federal system. The Compact Clause of the U.S. Federal Constitution builds a framework of constitutional principles for interstate agreements at the level of national governance systems. Under the "agreement" clause of the Federal Constitution, an interstate agreement is concluded by negotiation and consultation between two or more states and with the consent and approval of Congress, and the contracting states are bound by the "agreement" and "contract" clauses of the Federal Constitution, just as the parties or parties are bound by contract in a commercial transaction. This is a legally binding form of interstate cooperation. It enables the states and states of the United States to distribute and share powers, rights and responsibilities through interstate intergovernmental legal contracts in accordance with the framework of constitutional principles, so that the exercise of all powers and rights is both actively incentivized and strictly constrained and supervised to maintain the federal order. The promulgation of the "agreement" clause of the US Federal Constitution has created a broad stage for the development of interstate relations, become a powerful legal system for the development of cooperative federalism, and greatly promoted the stable and rapid development of interstate regional cooperative relations after the founding of the United States. Following the constitutional framework of interstate agreements, states unite themselves through contractual foundations rather than bureaucratic authority to form an intergovernmental collaborative network of autonomous governance, which effectively promotes cross-state regional public affairs collaborative governance, helps to integrate and enhance the regional public governance capacity of the US state government, and promotes the political, economic and social integration of the US state at the regional level. In the United States today, most interstate common affairs, disputes, and conflicts can be resolved through interstate agreements. Interstate agreements are conceived as a powerful cooperative mechanism for resolving interstate boundaries and other disputes and for states to solve common problems across state states through resource integration and joint action. As a result, interstate agreements have been widely used more widely than ever before, and have become an important tool for state government governance in the United States. The significance of this interaction between states is important: the more states are increasingly uniting to organize institutional collaborative governance actions across state lines, the greater the potential to address regional and national public affairs and public policy issues. From the institutional level of public governance, compared with the single-center management model formed in the separate, closed and bounded administrative regions of units, the interstate agreement mechanism not only surpasses the spontaneous market regulation mechanism, but also breaks through the traditional divided and antagonistic public management system, and is a collaborative governance model in the regional horizontal integration space that breaks through the single administrative jurisdiction and integrates administrative resources. This public governance model is essentially the institutionalization and behavioral adjustment of intergovernmental relations carried out by multiple state governments to meet the requirements of governance of cross-state regional common affairs: the construction of a network of interstate public governance relationships including common interests, collaborative mechanisms and legally binding commitments. The successful practice of interstate agreements in the United States proves that many interstate regional public issues can be governed in a collective and cooperative manner, and also proves that interstate agreements have great potential as a basic legal mechanism to promote regional and national interstate cooperation. Interstate agreements represent a horizontal intergovernmental legal contract, and the implementation and management of contracts are fundamentally different from traditional bureaucratic management methods in many respects, and require different theories to explain. Based on the perspective of collaborative governance theory, this book uses qualitative research methods to construct an analytical framework of collaborative governance process based on a series of repeated game actions of "negotiation-commitment-implementation", and attempts to theoretically answer the following questions: what is the internal logic and development driving force of the historical changes of interstate agreements, and how can member state governments carry out interstate regional collaborative governance actions in the process of concluding and implementing interstate agreements. This book combines theoretical, empirical, historical and textual research methods, and takes The Republican River Compact of 1943 (RRC, which flows through the three states of Central Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska) as a case study, to provide an analytical narrative and theoretical explanation, and from the perspective of combining theory and practice, sketch the knowledge picture of intergovernmental collaboration in the interstate regional governance of the United States: rule of law, Multi-level and networked governance model of intergovernmental relations. First, institutional change is the key to understanding historical change. This book sorts out the basic path of the historical evolution of interstate agreements from the perspective of the evolution of the cooperative federalism system: the "agreement" procedure originated in the colonial era, and initially developed the "agreement" clause of the Confederation Ordinance, which promoted the rule of law, institutionalization, and formalization of interstate agreements. In a certain sense, interstate agreements are the product of the historical development of the American state, and their historical evolution has the characteristics of a combination of spontaneous institutional change and mandatory institutional change. After analyzing the historical evolution of interstate agreements, this paper divides interstate agreements into ten types from the two dimensions of policy functions (boundary jurisdiction policy, distribution policy, regulatory policy and redistributive policy) characteristics and membership structure characteristics of interstate agreements, pointing out that interstate river agreements are an important agreement among all interstate agreement types and have become an important mechanism for public governance of river basins in the United States. Secondly, the consideration of the coordination mechanism of intergovernmental relations in the process of concluding and implementing interstate agreements constitutes the basic clue of the theoretical construction of this book. This book constructs a framework for collaborative governance processes, takes the Rippbricken River Basin Agreement (RRC) as an example, analyzes the background factors of interstate agreements, explains the process of negotiation, negotiation, commitment and implementation of interstate agreements, and reinterprets the model of intergovernmental collaborative governance processes. Through typical cases, this book proves the important value and significance of interstate agreements as institutional arrangements for cross-state public affairs governance in the United States. Relying on interstate agreements, US states have built a legal framework for interstate collaborative governance in the process of cross-state regional governance. The process of concluding interstate agreements, the implementation process and the dispute governance process evolved through a series of repeated game actions of "consultation-commitment-implementation", and the intergovernmental collaborative action system in interstate basin governance in the United States formed a pedigree in practice. From "intergovernmental agreements" to "intergovernmental consultations" and "intergovernmental mediation" to "intergovernmental arbitration" and "intergovernmental litigation", the governance structure of interstate basin agreement disputes has gradually become more hierarchical. Transaction costs are an important factor influencing the choice of the above five coordinated governance mechanisms. These five coordination mechanisms all play an important role as a complex of institutional arrangements for cross-state regional public affairs collaborative governance, forming an open and dynamic legal framework for coordination of intergovernmental relations. This means that an effective governance system must be transformed into actual governance capabilities under a certain governance structure, which is an important embodiment of the importance and effectiveness of the governance system. Third, this paper comprehensively analyzes the political, economic, cultural and social ecological environment for the growth of interstate agreements in the United States. In any country, the national governance structure is based on the development of certain historical-social-cultural-ecological environment comprehensive conditions. The success of the interstate agreement in the United States lies in its sophisticated constitutional system design, which fully implements the basic principles of nationalism (stateism) and contractualism (federalism), authorization incentives and limited power constraints, separation of powers and checks and balances, democracy and rule of law, autonomy and co-governance. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the regional public governance system embodied in the interstate agreement in the United States, explains the logic of cross-state regional intergovernmental collaborative governance that has important academic value for enriching regional public management theory, and points out that it has important enlightenment and reference value for the coordination of intergovernmental relations and regional cooperative governance innovation in the process of regional integration and new-type urbanization in China. The design of any national governance system must be based on the national conditions. Although the intergovernmental relations system under the federal system of the United States is different from the intergovernmental relations system under China's unitary system, many of the problems facing the coordination of intergovernmental relations and the governance of regional public affairs are the same, that is, how to provide high-quality and efficient public goods and services through intergovernmental collaboration (horizontal and vertical) to improve the efficiency of government governance. The successful practice of the "agreement" clause of the US Federal Constitution and the interstate agreement has provided many useful experiences and references for the introduction of relevant contents of China's Constitution. This book advocates learning from and drawing on the successful experience of interstate agreements in the United States, based on the perspective of administrative ecology, from the perspective of China's national conditions and the effect of experience to examine the experience of interstate agreements in the United States and their universal limitations, based on the current specific "historical-social-cultural" ecological environment in China, and on the basis of clarifying the differences between interprovincial agreements and interstate agreements in China's regional coordinated development in terms of national governance system environment and practical foundation. Deeply consider the top-level design of the coordination mechanism of intergovernmental relations in China's regional development and the constraints and incentives for innovation in regional collaborative governance, put forward ideas and countermeasures for further improving and improving the rule of law mechanism for regional intergovernmental relations coordination in China, and promote the modernization of China's regional governance system and governance capacity in the new era. The topics of this book are unique and innovative, and the research thinking has both historical and international perspectives, which has certain academic significance and application value. This study adopts the analysis methods of new institutional economics and game theory, especially the thinking methods, concepts and theories of new institutional economics to study the historical evolution and practical operation process of the interstate agreement governance system in the United States. Transaction costs are a fundamental concept and unit of analysis for understanding the governance process of interstate agreements in the United States. Through the practice cases of cross-state basin agreement governance, this achievement specifically interprets the regional intergovernmental collaborative governance process model, and enriches the understanding of collaborative governance theory. The research on the overall model of the dispute governance mechanism of interstate basin agreements is not only helpful to the discussion of public conflict governance in collaborative governance, but also has strong applicability in other research fields of public governance. From a comparative public administration perspective, this book has important academic value. While analyzing the historical evolution and design of the governance system of interstate agreements in the United States, this book introduces the analysis method of ecological governance, systematically pays attention to the comprehensive role of historical-social-political-economic-cultural and other diverse ecological environments, enriches the understanding of interstate agreements as an important regional public governance mechanism under the US federal system, and not only has important theoretical significance for the deepening of regional public management research content and the expansion of research horizons. Moreover, it has important enlightenment and reference value for the construction of the rule of law and the innovation of regional cooperation governance mechanism of the coordination mechanism of relations between the Chinese government. This book is based on my doctoral dissertation, "A Study of Interstate Agreements in the United States from the Perspective of Collaborative Public Management: The Case Study of the Ripabricken River Basin Agreement." I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Chen Ruilian, for her careful guidance and assistance in the selection, research and completion of her doctoral dissertation, and Professor Dale Krane from the Department of Public Administration of the University of Nebraska (Omaha) for her guidance. At the same time, I would like to thank Professor Chen Zhenming of Xiamen University, Professor Ma Jun of Sun Yat-sen University and Professor Meng Qingguo of Tsinghua University for their guidance and help. This book is the final result of the National Social Science Foundation of China funded by me "Research on Interstate Agreements in the United States: Theoretical Basis and Empirical Reference" (project approval number: 13FZZ011). We would like to thank the National Social Science Foundation of China for providing post-research and publication funding for this research result. We would like to thank the China Scholarship Fund (China Scholarship Fund), the Humanities and Social Science Research Youth Fund of the Ministry of Education (project approval number: 10YJC630175), the special fund of basic scientific research funds of central universities (project approval number: 2013221018) and the special funding project of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (project number: 201104087). I would like to thank Ms. Kong Jiping, China Social Sciences Press and Planning Editor, for her hard work in making this book a publication. The book references and quotes the research results and materials of many scholars and institutions, most of which are marked in the notes and references, and I would like to express my gratitude. Lui Zhikui at Xiamen University Baicheng on May 1, 2015（AI翻译）