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To which extent bureaucracies are inflexible and strategic planning is incompatible with emerging coping strategies are empirical questions. Based on a longitudinal case study of neo-Weberian state type local governments responses to different types of crises, this article argues that bureaucracies are at the heart of local coping strategies and indeed capable of adjusting to changing environments. They demonstrate capacious variation. The study adds the strategic perspective, falsifies the theoretical claims of the New Public Government (NPG) and confirms the ones of the neo- Weberian state (NWS). Strategic planning is far from dead. Crisis management was left to the CEOs and the administrative system, and it was top-down driven. Strategic plans had a life alongside strategic manoeuvring, and a variety in the hybrid mix of governance paradigms - as well as clear patterns of isomorphic structures - are interpreted as functional and symbolic adjustments.

Mads Boss, Caroline Howard Grøn, Simon Toft Kristjansen og Sofie Rømer (red.), Den offentlige sektor. Cases fra maskinrummet, Hans Reitzels Forlag, 2014 (anmeldt af Kurt Klaudi Klausen)

The fiscal crisis has led to recentralization, reorganization and innovation. These endeavours can better be understood as acts of government than as governance. The heg-emonic position of New Public Governance is questioned from four reference points: (1) reform policies of the Danish state under three consecutive governments since the turn of the century; (2) the fate of a public policy manifesto by 30 Danish researchers (3) research that looked in vain for politicians who identify with and act in accordance with ideals of governance; and (4) the deliberate strategic efforts made by local author-ities to achieve strategic design fit and to push forward the innovation agenda from the top down. As far as signs of New Public Governance, the Danish case should be of particular interest because of Denmark's history of corporatism and consensus-oriented democracy, a highly decentralized welfare state and the high level of trust among citi-zens and at the workplace.

Throughout the 20th century women have gradually gained access to sporting activities but it is only in recent decades that they have become widely represented in the decision‐making bodies of sport. How can we account for this development and the weak position of women in sport? The perspective in this article is historical and three levels of explanation are considered. To what extent can the developments be explained as the result of public policy, the organization and policy of the voluntary associations and federations and by the action or predispositions of (groups of) women themselves. The article presents an overview of the state of the art in the research on women and sport in Scandinavia in the sense that new data have been collected and existing research and writings are being reviewed. By questioning central myths about sport and politics, and about the roles women play, it is shown that the role of women in sports is related bom to gaining access to the sporting activities per se and to the fora where decisions are being made, and that this access has been hampered as well as facilitated by government policies and policies of associations and interest organizations of the sports world. Government policies, however, cannot account for the remarkable changes in physical participation and democratic representation of women in sports which has taken place during the past century. The policies of the voluntary sports associations and federations are of greater importance. But the key to the understanding is found among the women themselves. So it is argued that physical performance and involvement in management and decision‐making are dependent not only on formal structures and the policies of governments and interest organizations, but to a large extent upon the way in which women see themselves. This argumentation rests on the available data and a critical reading of the literature and research on women and sport in Scandinavia.

AbstractManagement and marketing techniques that are of great value in private firms may not prove as important in voluntary and nonprofit organizations. The author highlights problems in the direct application of the so‐called generic approach to third sector organizations by examining small voluntary organizations in the Danish sports sector. He argues, first, that it may be unnecessary to apply generic management techniques; second, that it may be dysfunctional with regard to leadership and management; and, third, that the consequences of the chosen (generic) strategies may be detrimental to the function and image of the associations. Instead, theories of organization, strategic management, and marketing should recognize the special mix of competing, complementary, and overlapping values, rationales, and evaluation criteria that characterize small voluntary organizations.