This innovative book presents a theoretical framework for understanding co-creation and the ways that public leaders may cope with the conflicts, dilemmas and paradoxes that arise when co-creation clashes with existing governance paradigms, such as old-style bureaucracy and New Public Management. Chapters identify the relative hostility of public sector environments towards the expansion of co-creation due to their continued commitment to sovereign political leadership, bureaucratic governance and performance management. Contributing authors analyse how these tensions hamper the adoption and functioning of co-creation as a tool of governance and prevent public and private actors benefitting from new ideas and practices. In response, they employ data from Nordic municipalities to provide a classification of strategies that managers in public service organizations may use to cope with these conflicts. Outlining how new and old forms of public governance can be aligned to reach their full potential, this forward-thinking book will be invaluable to students and scholars of governance and regulation, public administration and management, and public policy. Its practical insights will also be of use to policymakers and practitioners in private consultancy firms interested in collaboration, constructive hybridization, and new developments in public governance.