Suchergebnisse

Purpose
This paper aims to highlight problems and opportunities for introducing digital automation in public administration (PA) and to propose implications for public value creation of robotic process automation (RPA) through the perspective of good bureaucracy as a guiding framework.


Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper addresses the purpose by applying three normative ideal types: Weber's ideal type for a bureaucracy, new public management and public value management. This paper synthesizes an analytical framework in conducting case studies of the implementation of RPA systems in municipal administration.


Findings
This paper contributes to new insights into public value creation and digital automation. The following four implications are proposed: the deployment of RPA in municipal administration should emphasize that organizing administrative tasks is essentially a political issue; include considerations based on a well-grounded analysis in which policy areas that are suitable for RPA; to pay attention to issues on legal certainty, personal integrity, transparency and opportunities to influence automated decisions; and that the introduction of RPA indicates a need to develop resources concerning learning and knowledge in the municipal administration.


Originality/value
This paper is innovative, as it relates normative, descriptive and prescriptive issues on the developing of digital automation in PA. The conceptual approach is unusual in studies of digitalization in public activities.

The sub-national level in the Nordic countries is currently undergoing a process of major transformation. A central issue concerns the role of municipalities in regionalization processes. The purpose of the article is to analyse the positions and strategies of municipalities regarding interlocal cooperation and regional governance, in relation to a failed attempt to create a new large region in southern Sweden during 2013-2014. This attempt was based on a reform strategy, initiated by the government, which gave the main role in the creation of larger regions to municipalities and regional actors in a bottom-up process. How can we understand the roles of municipalities, and what are the drivers and barriers in a bottom-up strategy of regional formation? Our study shows that the views expressed by municipal representatives in Sweden regarding regional governance are anchored in the strong institutional position of municipalities in that country. Our conclusion is that a bottom-up strategy has several shortcomings as a method for making institutional reforms in a system of regional governance. There are obvious drivers in such a process, but there are also difficulties in achieving cooperation that result from high transaction costs (which lead to a collective-action dilemma), from an uncertain national policy, and from problems of legitimacy.

The sub-national level in the Nordic countries is currently undergoing a process of major transformation. A central issue concerns the role of municipalities in regionalization processes. The purpose of the article is to analyse the positions and strategies of municipalities regarding interlocal cooperation and regional governance, in relation to a failed attempt to create a new large region in southern Sweden during 2013-2014. This attempt was based on a reform strategy, initiated by the government, which gave the main role in the creation of larger regions to municipalities and regional actors in a bottom-up process. How can we understand the roles of municipalities, and what are the drivers and barriers in a bottom-up strategy of regional formation? Our study shows that the views expressed by municipal representatives in Sweden regarding regional governance are anchored in the strong institutional position of municipalities in that country. Our conclusion is that a bottom-up strategy has several shortcomings as a method for making institutional reforms in a system of regional governance. There are obvious drivers in such a process, but there are also difficulties in achieving cooperation that result from high transaction costs (which lead to a collective-action dilemma), from an uncertain national policy, and from problems of legitimacy. © Jörgen Johansson, Lars Niklasson, Bo Persson and School of Public Administration 2015

The sub-national level in the Nordic countries is currently undergoing a process of major transformation. A central issue concerns the role of municipalities in regionalization processes. The purpose of the article is to analyse the positions and strategies of municipalities regarding interlocal cooperation and regional governance, in relation to a failed attempt to create a new large region in southern Sweden during 2013-2014. This attempt was based on a reform strategy, initiated by the government, which gave the main role in the creation of larger regions to municipalities and regional actors in a bottom-up process. How can we understand the roles of municipalities, and what are the drivers and barriers in a bottom-up strategy of regional formation? Our study shows that the views expressed by municipal representatives in Sweden regarding regional governance are anchored in the strong institutional position of municipalities in that country. Our conclusion is that a bottom-up strategy has several shortcomings as a method for making institutional reforms in a system of regional governance. There are obvious drivers in such a process, but there are also difficulties in achieving cooperation that result from high transaction costs (which lead to a collective-action dilemma), from an uncertain national policy, and from problems of legitimacy.

Artikel 4The sub-national level in the Nordic countries is currently undergoing a process of major transformation. A central issue concerns the role of municipalities in regionalization processes. The purpose of the article is to analyse the positions and strategies of municipalities regarding interlocal cooperation and regional governance, in relation to a failed attempt to create a new large region in southern Sweden during 2013-2014. This attempt was based on a reform strategy, initiated by the government, which gave the main role in the creation of larger regions to municipalities and regional actors in a bottom-up process. How can we understand the roles of municipalities, and what are the drivers and barriers in a bottom-up strategy of regional formation? Our study shows that the views expressed by municipal representatives in Sweden regarding regional governance are anchored in the strong institutional position of municipalities in that country. Our conclusion is that a bottom-up strategy has several shortcomings as a method for making institutional reforms in a system of regional governance. There are obvious drivers in such a process, but there are also

The aim of this article is to examine trends of democratic backsliding associated with the long standing reform work on regional institutions and policies in Sweden. To this end, democratic backsliding is conceptualized in a different manner compared to conventional understandings. By doing so, the article highlights a missing aspect in the research on democratic backsliding that concerns how well-intended reforms designed to strengthen democratic institutions can also harbor non-democratic consequences. In Sweden, a new political arena was created when the former county councils were transformed into so-called called regions in 2019. As part of this, the regions have been assigned responsibility for both health care and regional development planning. The overall research problem to be analyzed in this article focuses on the relations between the policy objectives for democracy and regionalist ideas of economic growth that both were central concerns in the reform processes. The results highlight how the governing rationalities in the regional reform processes have changed during the period between 1990 and 2020. The original conception of creating a mini-version of a liberal and representative democracy have turned into a form of democratic backsliding privileging economic goals. The economic rationalities that permeate the political sphere today close the space for articulated different interests and opinions-a dimension that we argue is crucial for any democratic society. We draw two main conclusions: First that the neoliberal aspect of governing is missing in the analysis of democracy at the regional level, resulting in a descriptive discussion of democracy that tend to ignore the effects of the particularly strong emphasis on economic growth. Secondly, that there is a lack of a discussion on democracy that takes the regional level into account, i.e., that the sub-national level should be regarded and thus discussed as a distinctive level of democracy.

The authors DNG, TT, DG, AB, JJ, FGP, COP were supported by funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 721456 (https://ec.europa.eu/ research/mariecurieactions/). The author MGP was funded by grant no. PGC2018-096364-B-I00 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/en/Ministerio/misiony-organizacion.html)