The present paper aims to apply the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau in a concrete study of the ideologization of the welfare state in Denmark in the postwar period. Why was 'the welfare state', initially, constructed as an empty signifier, which constituted a nodal point in totalizing vision about how to organize the whole of society? How was, later, the empty universalism filled by a particular political project. My claim is that 'the welfare state' emerged as an empty signifier in response to societal dislocation. The particular content of the welfare state project was determined in and through policitical struggles in which the social-democratic party played a crucial role. The paper first discusses Laclaus account of the relation between the universal and the particular. It then offers some methodological reflections about how to apply discourse theory in empirical studies. Finally it provides a detailed discourse analysis of some crucial historical texts and contexts.
In: Torfing , J & Ansell , C 2021 , ' Co-creation : the new kid on the block in public governance ' , Policy and Politics , vol. 49 , no. 2 , pp. 211-230 . https://doi.org/10.1332/030557321x16115951196045
This article has three objectives. The first is to show that while co-production was originally tied to service production, co-creation has broader applications in the field of public governance and involves a broader range of actors and activities. The second objective is to demonstrate how the co-creation concept both builds on and extends the concept of collaborative governance, thus adding new dimensions to an already well-established literature. The final objective is to show how a strategic turn to co-creation introduces a new type of 'generative governance' aimed at solving complex problems by constructing platforms enabling the formation of arenas for co-creation that bring together a plethora of public and private actors, including citizens, in creative problem-solving processes. The three objectives are achieved through prospective theoretical analysis aimed at providing a conceptual foundation for analysing cutting-edge societal developments that are not yet commonplace.
Governance researchers have repeatedly discussed how to make public governance more accountable given the relatively 'thin' accountability of representative government. Recent decades have seen the growth of new, compensatory forms of accountability. However, these measures do not seem have satisfied the demands for strengthening public sector accountability. Drawing on the concept of social accountability, this article challenges common wisdom in arguing that collaborative governance may enhance public governance accountability, although it also raises new accountability problems that must be tackled. The article develops a heuristic framework for empirical studies of accountability, which improves the impact of collaborative forms of governance.
Coronakrisen har vist os, hvad der skal til for, at det politiske og administrative system i fremtiden kan løse store kriser og udfordringer. Det kræver, at alle niveauer og aktører spiller med, skriver Eva Sørensen og Jacob Torfing.
In: Torfing , J & Winsvold , M 2020 , Demokratiparadokset. Hvordan styre et folk som skal styre seg selv? i A Røiseland & S I Vabo (red) , Folkevalgt og politisk leder . Cappelen Damm Akademisk , Oslo , s. 120–145 . https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.80.ch5
In this chapter we discuss what we have conceptualized as "the paradox of democracy", pointing to the conflict between the idea of the sovereign people on one side, and the idea that democracies need representatives and political leaders, on the other. The chapter gives an overview of democratic arrangements that encourage direct participation, including arrangements that feed into and support and arrangements that challenge the representative system. Furthermore, the chapter provides examples of arrangements that actively and intentionally link together representation and direct participation. Lastly, we discuss how the tension between participatory practices and representative democracy can be solved. In a brief and subsequent chapter, a Norwegian Mayor reflects on the conflict between representation and direct participation.
In: Torfing , J & Sørensen , E 2019 , ' Interactive political leadership in theory and practice : How elected politicians may benefit from co-creating public value outcomes ' , Administrative Sciences , vol. 9 , no. 3 , pp. 51 . https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci9030051
This paper argues that elected politicians may strengthen their political leadership role by initiating, orchestrating and engaging in the co-creation of public value outcomes. The collaborative turn in public value theory shows how public managers may mobilize the knowledge, ideas and resources of users, citizens and organized stakeholders, but it has so far neglected the role of elected politicians who tend to be reduced to a legitimizing sounding board for public managers aiming to advance public value creation in collaboration with a plethora of public and private actors. This paper seeks to compensate this benign neglect by advancing a new notion of 'interactive political leadership'. This new construct aims to conceptualize the way that elected politicians may develop new and better policy solutions through a problem-focused interaction with relevant and affected actors from the economy and civil society, including users, volunteers, citizens and other lay actors. The theoretical argument about the development of interactive political leadership, which takes us beyond the traditional forms of sovereign political leadership that perceives politicians as 'elected kings', is illustrated by empirical examples drawn from local, national and supranation levels of government.
This paper argues that elected politicians may strengthen their political leadership role by initiating, orchestrating and engaging in the co-creation of public value outcomes. The collaborative turn in public value theory shows how public managers may mobilize the knowledge, ideas and resources of users, citizens and organized stakeholders, but it has so far neglected the role of elected politicians who tend to be reduced to a legitimizing sounding board for public managers aiming to advance public value creation in collaboration with a plethora of public and private actors. This paper seeks to compensate this benign neglect by advancing a new notion of 'interactive political leadership'. This new construct aims to conceptualize the way that elected politicians may develop new and better policy solutions through a problem-focused interaction with relevant and affected actors from the economy and civil society, including users, volunteers, citizens and other lay actors. The theoretical argument about the development of interactive political leadership, which takes us beyond the traditional forms of sovereign political leadership that perceives politicians as 'elected kings', is illustrated by empirical examples drawn from local, national and supranation levels of government ; publishedVersion
This paper argues that elected politicians may strengthen their political leadership role by initiating, orchestrating and engaging in the co-creation of public value outcomes. The collaborative turn in public value theory shows how public managers may mobilize the knowledge, ideas and resources of users, citizens and organized stakeholders, but it has so far neglected the role of elected politicians who tend to be reduced to a legitimizing sounding board for public managers aiming to advance public value creation in collaboration with a plethora of public and private actors. This paper seeks to compensate this benign neglect by advancing a new notion of 'interactive political leadership'. This new construct aims to conceptualize the way that elected politicians may develop new and better policy solutions through a problem-focused interaction with relevant and affected actors from the economy and civil society, including users, volunteers, citizens and other lay actors. The theoretical argument about the development of interactive political leadership, which takes us beyond the traditional forms of sovereign political leadership that perceives politicians as 'elected kings', is illustrated by empirical examples drawn from local, national and supranation levels of government.
In response to the urgent need for elected politicians to lead processes of collaborative policy innovation, this paper brings together political leadership theory and theories of collaborative and participatory governance in order to make way for the concept of interactive political leadership. The theoretical framework shows how interactive political leadership relies on platforms and arenas that bring politicians and citizens together in informed dialogues that may contribute to collaborative policy innovation. An empirical case study of institutional reforms in a Danish municipality adds flesh and blood to the theoretical argument about how to enhance interactive political leadership.
In: Torfing , J & Siebers , V 2018 , ' Co-creation as a new form of citizen engagement : Comparing Danish and Dutch experiences at the local government level ' , International Public Management Review , vol. 18 , no. 2 , pp. 187-208 .
Citizen engagement is a key component of modern liberal democracy, especially at the local level, it is an important tool for generating political input, securing political support, mobilizing societal resources and finding creative solutions to the problems and challenges that governments face. Currently, we are witnessing an interesting shift in citizen engagement towards viewing citizens as co-creators of local governance, thus recognizing that citizens have both knowledge and resources that may help tackling wicked and unruly problems. Local governments increasingly focus on the design of co-creation processes and search for ways to support and enhance this new form of citizen engagement. To explore how processes of co-creation unfold at the level of local government, this article analyzes and compares a Danish and Dutch case of co-creation with local citizens. The comparative case study identifies the different reasons for initiating co-creation. It analyses the processes and outcomes of co-creation and reflects on the role of institutional design and leadership. The conclusion is that co-creation can be a viable strategy in very different situations if supported by the right design and leadership.
The governance paradigm has been travelling a bumpy road from an enfant terrible that challenged conventional ideas about how think of the way that society and the economy is governed to a relatively mature paradigm with distinctive theories and methods and empirical studies of scope conditions and causal impact of interactive forms of governance. This article reconsiders and seeks to clarify the conceptual confusion about how to define the concept of governance. It also highlights some of the recent achievements of governance research and points to new and emerging developments that aims to further consolidate the governance paradigm. The new items on the research agenda are briefly illustrated with an empirical example. ; The governance paradigm has been travelling a bumpy road from an enfant terrible that challenged conventional ideas about how think of the way that society and the economy is governed to a relatively mature paradigm with distinctive theories and methods and empirical studies of scope conditions and causal impact of interactive forms of governance. This article reconsiders and seeks to clarify the conceptual confusion about how to define the concept of governance. It also highlights some of the recent achievements of governance research and points to new and emerging developments that aims to further consolidate the governance paradigm. The new items on the research agenda are briefly illustrated with an empirical example.
Citizen engagement is a key component of modern liberal democracy, especially at the local level, it is an important tool for generating political input, securing political support, mobilizing societal resources and finding creative solutions to the problems and challenges that governments face. Currently, we are witnessing an interesting shift in citizen engagement towards viewing citizens as co-creators of local governance, thus recognizing that citizens have both knowledge and resources that may help tackling wicked and unruly problems. Local governments increasingly focus on the design of co-creation processes and search for ways to support and enhance this new form of citizen engagement. To explore how processes of co-creation unfold at the level of local government, this article analyzes and compares a Danish and Dutch case of co-creation with local citizens. The comparative case study identifies the different reasons for initiating co-creation. It analyses the processes and outcomes of co-creation and reflects on the role of institutional design and leadership. The conclusion is that co-creation can be a viable strategy in very different situations if supported by the right design and leadership.
Western liberal governments increasingly seek to improve the performance of the public sector by spurring innovation. New Public Management reforms from the 1980s onward viewed strategic entrepreneurial leadership and public–private competition as key drivers of public innovation. By contrast, the current wave of New Public Governance reforms perceives collaboration between relevant and affected actors from the public and private sector as the primary vehicle of public innovation, and tends to see governance networks as potential arenas for collaborative innovation. The new focus on collaborative innovation in networks poses a fundamental challenge for public managers, elected politicians, and others aiming to metagovern governance networks. Hence, we claim that a specific metagovernance strategy is needed when the purpose of governance networks is to stimulate efficiency, effectiveness, and democratic legitimacy through innovation rather than incremental improvements. The article aims to sketch out the contours of such a strategy by comparing it with more traditional metagovernance strategies. The argument is illustrated by an empirical analysis of an example of collaborative innovation in Danish elderly care.
In: Torfing , J & Ansell , C 2017 , ' Strengthening political leadership and policy innovation through the expansion of collaborative forms of governance ' , Public Management Review (Print) , vol. 19 , no. 1 , pp. 37-54 . https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2016.1200662
This article explores how political leadership and policy innovation can be enhanced through collaborative governance. The main findings are that while wicked and unruly problems create an urgent need for policy innovation, politicians are badly positioned to initiate, drive and lead this innovation. They are either locked into a dependency on policy advice from senior civil servants or locked out of more inclusive policy networks. In either case, they are insulated from fresh ideas and ultimately reduced to 'policy-takers' with limited engagement in policy innovation. Collaborative policy innovation offers a solution to these limitations.
In: Torfing , J & Hofstad , H 2015 , ' Collaborative innovation as a tool for environmental, economic and social sustainability in regional governance ' , Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration , vol. 19 , no. 4 , pp. 49-70 .
In the Scandinavian countries, the regional level of governance is neither the locus of large-scale policy reforms nor a significant provider of welfare to citizens. Nevertheless, it has some important policy tasks in the area of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. These policy areas are rife with wicked and unruly problems that combine cognitive uncertainties with the risk of political conflict and stalemate. Dealing with these problems requires the construction of network arenas in which a range of public and private actors can collaborate in order to find innovative solutions to common problems. The paper analyses the efforts of Norwegian regions to enhance collaborative innovation through the formation of interactive governance arenas. It compares three different policy areas in order to better understand how different forms of interactive governance enhance collaborative innovation for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The ultimate goal is to assess the ability and potential of Norwegian regions to solve wicked and unruly problems through collaborative innovation. ; In the Scandinavian countries, the regional level of governance is neither the locus of large-scale policy reforms nor a significant provider of welfare to citizens. Nevertheless, it has some important policy tasks in the area of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. These policy areas are rife with wicked and unruly problems that combine cognitive uncertainties with the risk of political conflict and stalemate. Dealing with these problems requires the construction of network arenas in which a range of public and private actors can collaborate in order to find innovative solutions to common problems. The paper analyses the efforts of Norwegian regions to enhance collaborative innovation through the formation of interactive governance arenas. It compares three different policy areas in order to better understand how different forms of interactive governance enhance collaborative innovation for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The ultimate goal is to assess the ability and potential of Norwegian regions to solve wicked and unruly problems through collaborative innovation.