Suchergebnisse

The Swedish cities have been moving towards city regions that will have consequences for democracy, local citizenship and political institutions in forms of economic development, competitiveness and living environment. The proposed study will research how the citizens are affected and how the political institutions are responding to these changes. L. Pitkaniemi

Den här avhandlingen undersöker vilken inverkan styrning som "governance" och interorganisatorisk samverkan har på lokala integrationsprogram inom det svenska flyktingmottagandet. Fokus ligger på att studera hur organisationer på lokal nivå förhåller sig till ett institutionellt förändringstryck om att etablera ett interorganisatoriskt och arbetsmarknadsinriktat program. Syftet är också att bidra till den teoretiska förståelsen av "governancemisslyckanden" och den mångfald av processer som styrning genom icke-tvingande mekanismer och decentraliserat beslutsfattande kan ge upphov till på lokal nivå. Den empiriska studien bygger på intervjuer med företrädare för myndigheter och andra aktörer på olika nivåer inom integrationsområdet. Fallstudier av lokalt utvecklingsarbete har genomförts i fyra kommuner. Avhandlingen visar att styrningen baserad på icke-tvingande mekanismer hade svårt att få genomslag när den stod i konflikt med etablerade arbetssätt och professionella normer. Den har också inneburit vaga och svårförenliga riktlinjer för arbetet på lokal nivå. Inom det lokala flyktingmottagandet har utvecklingsarbetet karaktäriserats av erfarenhetsutbyte, jämförelser och en vilja till gemensamt lärande inom ramen för professionella nätvek. Denna typ av samverkan har bidragit till ökad likformighet, eller isomorfism, inom de lokala insatserna, vilket står i kontrast till målet om ett mer differentierat och flexibelt program. ; This thesis examines the impact and significance of governance and inter-organizational collaboration in the policy area of local refugee reception and immigrant integration in Sweden. The study focuses on how local actors respond to institutional pressures to engage in collaborative efforts in order to make service provision more differentiated and more orientated towards employment. The aim also is to contribute to the theoretical understanding of 'governance failure' and the multiplicity of outcomes that are possible when non-coercive mechanisms are applied rather than formal 'command-and-control'. The empirical study is based on interviews with representatives from agencies involved at different levels. At the local level, case studies of integration programme development were carried out in four municipalities. The analysis shows that the governance strategies, based on non-coercive mechanisms, had a limited significance because they were in conflict with professional norms and practices at the local level of service provision. They also failed to provide more detailed guidance on how the differentiated services should be realized in practice. Instead, programme development at the local level was characterized by collaborative learning and imitation in professional networks, or 'communities of practice'. This type of collaboration contributed to processes of increased homogenization, or isomorphism, which stands in contrast to the goal of a more de-standardized and flexible programme.

This dissertation examines key characteristics and factors shaping the leadership style of Swedish Prime Ministers (PMs). Based on the research of the American presidency, an interactionist framework is developed which draws upon institutional theory and political psychological theory. The analysis is advanced by exploring multiple sources and is based on four cases of leadership styles: two single party Social Democratic PMs, Ingvar Carlsson and Göran Persson, as well as two center/right coalition PMs, Thorbjörn Fälldin and Carl Bildt. Leadership style is studied through a focused comparison of the PMs' performance of four functions. Thus, the four PMs are studied as staffers and organizers of the cabinet and the Government Offices, decision makers, communicators and crisis managers. The results indicate that the office of the PM is elastic, accommodating a wide-ranging variation of leadership styles. The Social Democratic PMs display the most uniform leadership styles, but, rather surprisingly, they also have the most dissimilar leadership styles among the four cases. The center/right PMs' approaches differ to a great extent from one another, displaying mixed forms of leadership styles. The analysis explains how the PMs' leadership styles are shaped based on the interaction between their distinct personal characteristics and surrounding institutions. Thus, the dissertation concludes that leadership theories developed in a presidential setting are largely applicable in a parliamentary setting and that political behavior is not dictated by institutions such as formal structures or norms. The results encourage a reassessment of how personality, as an explanatory factor, is applied in mainstream political science. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the need for reconsidering the presidentialisation thesis and the notion of dominant leadership as there are alternative pathways to prime ministerial influence which are disregarded in the debate.