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Frikommuneidéen opstod i 1980'erne, og den har ikke forladt os. Regering efter regering har lanceret sin version af en verden, hvor kommunerne opnår mere selvstyre. Dette essay anlægger en kritisk vinkel på de dansk-nordiske erfaringer med frikommuneforsøgene og konkluderer ikke uden beklagelse, at kommunerne egentlig godt kan finde ud af styre egne anliggender. Men de får fortsat ikke lov. Lidt bittert kan man således konstatere to ting: Det er populært at regelforenkle, men umuligt at gøre det i praksis, og den generaliserede tillid til andre, som bar et af forsøgene, holder ikke i mødet med hverdagens nationale politik.

The idea of the free communes was born in the 1980s and has been with us ever since. Government upon government has launched its own version of a world where local governments achieved more self-governance. This essay takes stock of the experience with free commune experiments in the Nordic countries. It concludes, not without a certain regret, that local governments are able to manage their own affairs, but they are not allowed to do it. Slightly acrimoniously, the essay reaches double conclusion: removing regulations is a popular program but it is impossible in practice, and the general trust in others that was the mainstay of one the more recent experiments does not survive the encounter with the everyday life of national politics.

Jens Peter Christensen: Ministre og embedsmænd. Pligter og ansvar. København: DJØF Forlag, 2022.

Based on a review of recent reforms of the budgetary systems used in the Danish public sector, the article argues that such reforms have not been effective instruments for public sector resource management. The reason for this lack of effectivity is found in the principles of hierarchical governance on which these reforms are based. The systems provide only weak incentives for respecting spending targets decided at superior levels, while, simultaneously, budget-holders are tempted to exceed these targets. Alternatively, the article argues for a contractual approach to budgetary reform where micro-level incentives are brought into operation.

ABSTRACTFor more than a decade control of public sector growth has been one of the key issues in Danish politics. In an attempt to contain further uncontrolled growth, the whole budgetary system has been gradually reformed, and political cutting operations have been a recurrent event. Serious questions, however, remain. First, it is questionable whether procedural and institutional reforms of the budgetary system have made it any easier for political decision-makers to carry through their cutting plans. Second, it is doubtful whether the policy-makers are able to keep within the financial limits, set up by themselves, when confronted with demands for solution of unforeseen, but politically pressing, problems. In such situations there will always remain a strong politicalpropensity to make an exception.