Interauthority

Interauthority is the set of arrangements and processes that enable two or more authorities to coordinate actions, share information, and allocate or delegate responsibility for a common task. Authorities may include government agencies, regulatory bodies, local, regional, or federal entities, or other institutions that hold legal powers within a system of governance. Interauthority encompasses both formal, legally binding mechanisms and informal, practice-based collaborations.

Mechanisms include joint committees or task forces, memoranda of understanding, data-sharing agreements, cross-appointment of staff, joint inspections or audits, and the creation of shared decision-making bodies. The aim is to align policies, streamline operations, reduce duplication, and improve responsiveness to cross-cutting issues such as public safety, health, environmental protection, or infrastructure.

Key features are clearly defined roles and authorities, agreed decision-making processes, accountability frameworks, timelines, and dispute-resolution provisions. Successful interauthority arrangements require leadership support, legal clarity, interoperable information systems, and regular communication.

Benefits include more coherent policy implementation, faster crisis response, cost savings, and greater resilience. Challenges include overlapping mandates, jurisdictional conflicts, differences in culture and priorities, resource disparities, and concerns about information privacy and data security.

Some scholars distinguish interauthority from interagency collaboration by emphasizing the formal allocation and sharing of authority across entities rather than only cooperative work. In practice, interauthority arrangements emphasize formal alignment of authority across entities to address complex, multi-actor problems.

See also: interagency coordination, cross-border governance, memoranda of understanding.