Jennifer Lees-Marshment is Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, Politics and International Relations, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is author/editor of 12 books, including The Political Marketing Game (2011) and Political Marketing: Principles and Applications 2nd edition (2014). Her research interests include political marketing, leadership, public input and governance. See: www.lees-marshment.org for further details.

1. Building the Bridge: A Methodology for Connecting the Aspiration and Practicalities of Public Input and Political Leadership 2. Changing Times: Politicians Talk of Partnership 3. Mind the Gap: The Ideals of Public Input and the Mucky Reality of Government 4. Collecting Public Input 5. Processing Public Input 6. Developing Political Leaders and the Public 7. Ministers on Managing Public Input 8. Ministers on Integrating Public Input into Decision Making 9. Deliberative Political Leadership and the Ministry of Public Input

As political leaders acknowledge the limits of their power they increasingly integrate constructive input from inside and outside government into their decision-making. A Ministry or Commission of Public Input is necessary to collect, process and communicate input more effectively and politicians need to work with the public to identify solutions.