Local development practitioners in local government administration play a significant role in the governance of local development. This category of public officials – development officers, managers, strategists, secretaries, etc. – have received some attention in the local development literature. However, the directions in the literature are just as varied as the descriptions of the different aspects of local development governance they are taking part in. That means that the overarching understanding of what local development practitioners actually do is blurred, and is left to detailed case studies with very little or no conceptual ambition. Against this backdrop, the ambition of this article is to grasp what the local development practitioner role consists of at a conceptual level.

This article offers a better understanding of what local development practitioner roles in particular consist of and how these roles relate to existing theories of governance and public administration. In order to do so, we first clarify and refine what the literature has stressed about local development practitioners’ roles and functions, and cluster the findings into three theoretically separated roles: the coordinator, the creator and the inside lobbyist. Second, we bridge these roles with recent trends in public administration research. Finally, we discuss how this conceptualization informs us about governance modes of local development, as well as ‘new and modern’ public official roles in local government administration. 

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Denna rapport syftar till att belysa om, och i så fall hur, klienters tillgång till välfärdsservice förändras vid användningen av digitala verktyg inom socialtjänsten. Forskningsfrågan som guidar studien är: hur påverkas relationen mellan socialsekreterare och klient av införandet av digitala verktyg inom ekonomiskt bistånd?

I studien undersöks socialsekreterares uppfattningar om sin relation till klienter i tre olika kommuner. Genom ett urval av tre kommuner som kommit olika långt i sitt digitaliseringsarbete öppnar studien upp för en jämförelse mellan socialsekreterarnas beskrivningar. I jämförelsen uppmärksammas skillnader mellan beskrivningar av relationen mellan socialsekreterare och klient. Genom att studera skillnader synliggörs om, och i så fall hur, digitala verktyg har en inverkan på relationen mellan socialsekreterare och klient.

Valet att ställa relationen i fokus i studien grundar sig på att tidigare forskning pekar på att relationen mellan ”det offentliga” och invånare är central för invånares tillgång till välfärdsservice och förutsättning för offentligt stöd. I förlängningen blir därigenom studien en grund för att diskutera om och hur klienters tillgång till ekonomiskt bistånd förändras vid introduktionen av digitala verktyg och huruvida det finns en risk för ett digitalt utanförskap.

Resultatet från studien visar att den arbetsdelning som följer av en digitalisering kan påverka till en ökad distans mellan socialsekreterare och klientklienter och att det med digitalisering följer en retorik som handlar om att mer ansvar bör läggas på enskilda medborgare. Det kan för den enskilda klienten leda till ett ökat ansvar över att driva det egna ärendet i relation till myndigheten och därigenom försämra klienters tillgång till välfärdsservice för klienter. Dock behöver inte så vara fallet. Studiens resultat visar samtidigt att socialsekreterare och ekonomisekreterare till stor del betraktar de digitala verktygen som ett komplement, som breddar tillgängligheten och att medvetenheten om risker för ett digitalt utanförskap ger en lyhördhet inför om klienter har behov av stöd. Med andra ord visar studien hur socialsekreterare och/eller ekonomisekreterare arbetar för att kompensera för teknikens brister.

This article will present the argument that modern performance management systems have the potential to change and negatively affect the academic supervision process and the scientific knowledge perception within postgraduate education. Empirically, the argument focuses on how one statutory management model, the so called study plane (ISP), is designed and applied at the University of Gothenburg. Theoretically, basic assumptions inherent in the control and steering logic of the ISP-model are identified, and their potential significance for knowledge-, value- and interaction formation within the supervision and dissertation process is analyzed. Our main conclusion is that the ISP-model, if applied as intended, promotes the transformation process towards organizational professionalism within the research community. The model affects trust relations, value and knowledge formation within the supervision process, and hampers experimental and creative research and findings.

Politik och förvaltning är två sidor av demokratin. Den politiska makten används för att styra samhällsutvecklingen utifrån ett ideologiskt synsätt, medan den offentliga förvaltningens uppgift är att tjäna andra, ytterst medborgarna. I detta ligger en unik utmaning: å ena sidan ska folket genom sina valda representanter styra och kontrollera förvaltningen, å andra sidan ska myndigheter och tjänstemän vara självständiga nog att hävda saklighet, opartiskhet och ett etiskt förhållningssätt. 

Denna bok ger en bild av dessa utmaningar. Den ger också en överblick som gör det lättare att navigera bland alla aktörer. Att hitta rätt bland internationella, statliga, regionala och lokala nivåer är nämligen inte självklart. Detta är en karta som dessutom blivit alltmer splittrad i takt med decentralisering, specialisering och privatisering. 

I den tredje upplagan av VÅR OFFENTLIGA FÖRVALTNING har lagar och förordningar inom välfärdssektorn uppdaterats, liksom andra viktiga förändringar inom offentlig förvaltning. Även den ökade digitaliseringen och betydelsen av medlemskapet i Nato behandlas. Boken vänder sig till högskolestuderande vid utbildningar i offentlig förvaltning, men också till den som redan arbetar inom sådana verksamheter. Det inkluderar så skilda yrken som kommunikatör, utredare, socionom, arbetsvetare, lärare, arbetsförmedlare, sjukvårdspersonal, polis och miljöinspektör. Boken vänder sig också till förtroendevalda politiker och andra som är intresserade av området. 

Anna Melke är journalist, fil. dr i offentlig förvaltning och verksam som forskare vid Göteborgsregionen, FoU i Väst. Hon har även medverkat i tidigare upplagor, som initialt författades av Hans Bengtsson. I denna upplaga medverkar två nya författare: Petra Svensson och Sara Svensson, docenter i statsvetenskap och verksamma som lektorer vid Högskolan i Halmstad.

It has been argued that political entrepreneurship is playing an increased role for public organizations and play a vital role in local government organizations. Political entrepreneurship has previously been studied from the motivations and actions of the individual entrepreneur. We argue that in order to understand why political entrepreneurship occurs in local public administration, these aspects are not enough. Instead, we need to consider entrepreneurship as situated, and analyse contextual conditions which form institutional demands for political entrepreneurship. A tentative framework is presented, which distinguish conditions coming from reformed organizational setting and conditions coming from new policy challenges. Finally, we conclude that the character of the conditions and thus the institutional demands directs political entrepreneurship towards either value-generative or collaborative entrepreneurship. © 2019 Lex localis.

As a way to manage political disagreements over public policies, political representatives might be tempted to avoid open discussions by depoliticising political issues—hoping that the confict may eventually disappear. When decision-makers employ such strategies, it is up to the administration to make political priorities and manage unresolved policy conficts. Earlier studies indicate that there are at least two strategies that administrators can employ to manage such ambiguities: (re)framing and technical depoliticisation. This article reveals that public administrators also employ a third framing strategy: repoliticisation, where administrators seek to endow their policy areas with political power by connecting politicians to the work and implementation of policies. The study is based on 38 interviews from 11 municipalities in Sweden. © The Author(s) 2022

Här undersöker vi hur regionala och kommunala politiker uppfattar behovet av kunskap och kunskapsutveckling inom besöksnäringen. Vi undersöker också hur dessa politiker uppfattar ansvaret för kunskapsutveckling inom besöksnäringen: vem som har ansvar, vad de har ansvar för och hur detta ansvar ska tas. Politikernas perspektiv är intressant eftersom det offentligas prioriteringar av och stöd till besöksnäringen i grund och botten är beroende av de avvägningar som görs på politisk nivå. Det är också intressant eftersom ansvaret för besöksnäringens utveckling kan ha omförhandlats i samband med att utvecklingspolitiken blivit en distinkt regional fråga. Rapporten bygger på intervjuer med politiker inom regionala och kommunala organisationer med ansvar för besöksnäringsfrågan. Studien visar att ett mer formaliserat regionalt ansvar för utvecklingspolitiken leder till ökad byråkratisering och ibland gör mellankommunal samverkan svårare. Den visar också att mindre organisationer har tydliga fördelar när det gäller samverkan. Kunskapsutveckling, kunskapsstyrning och destination uppfattas av våra informanter som oklara begrepp. Detta kan förklaras med att besöksnäringen i sig uppfattas som ett komplext politikområde som både genomsyrar och genomsyras av andra politikområden, vilket gör det svårt att urskilja specifika kunskapsperspektiv. Studien visar också att även om begreppet destination uppfattas som något otydligt så fungerar det som en samlande berättelse. Det betyder att destinationsbegreppet är något olika aktörer förhåller sig till när frågor ska diskuteras och förhandlas. Det betyder också att uppfattningen att destinationen är viktig underlättar integrering i övrig övergripande strategisk planering. Det tycks finnas ett stort stöd för kunskapsutveckling inom besöksnäringen. Samtidigt är det tydligt att många olika saker kan kallas kunskapsutveckling. Det finns alltså en enighet vad gäller betydelsen av destination- och kunskapsutveckling, men en stor oklarhet i hur begreppen ska tolkas. Det innebär att det är svårt att dra några övergripande slutsatser kring hur kunskapsutveckling inom besöksnäringen faktiskt används strategiskt. Arbetet med kunskapsutveckling inom besöksnäringen kännetecknas alltså av både stor enighet och stor oklarhet.

Idag uppfattas alltfler frågor som komplexa och som i behov av strategisk samordning och tvärsektoriell koordinering. Detta har gett till upphov till nya roller och professioner i den offentliga förvaltningen. Dessa kallas ofta strateger och samordnare och återfinns på alla nivåer i den offentliga sektorn. Forskningen om dessa roller är mycket begränsad, dock finns ett stort behov av fördjupning av de utmaningar som aktörerna möter. I denna rapport presenteras tre fördjupande studier på detta tema. Anton Holmgren Jonsson undersöker hur kommunala politiker förhåller sig till sina jämställdhetsstrateger och huruvida strategerna fungerar som styrinstrument för den beslutade politiska inriktningen. Johanna Jansson utforskar hur folkhälsostrateger hanterar och formar sin professionella roll då förväntningarna på vad de ska göra inte alltid är tydliga och konsekventa. Josephine Massie studerar hur nationella samordnare fungerar som styrinstrument mellan olika administrativa nivåer. Dessa studier är skrivna som examensarbeten inom masterprogrammet i offentlig förvaltning under år 2016. Författarna är alla pol. master vid Förvaltningshögskolan, Göteborgs universitet och har idag (januari 2020) olika roller inom statlig, regional och kommunal offentlig förvaltning. Rapportens redaktör, Petra Svensson, är fil. dr i offentlig förvaltning med inriktning mot tvärsektoriell styrning och organisering och handledde arbetet med de tre studierna. ©2020 Författarna

It is argued that political-administrative organizations are becoming increasingly complex with more horizontal governance required. In Swedish municipal administration, there is a group of administrators assigned the task of monitoring and promoting strategic topics that should be integrated horizontally within the organization. Examples of strategic topics are sustainability, safety/security, diversity, children/youth, public health, human rights, and gender equality. In the thesis, these administrators are called cross-sector strategists. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how cross-sector strategists become a part of the political-administrative organization when representing, enacting, and reflecting on values in the undertaking of their formal posts. They are situated between the tradition of vertical governance, with formal procedures and hierarchy as its foundation, and the tradition of horizontal governance, with informal networks and deliberation as its foundation. Previous research has shown that this is likely to give rise to value conflicts, and the question is if cross-sector strategists experience value conflicts, and if so, how they cope with them. The cross-sector strategists are studied in this thesis from the perspective of situated agency – focusing on both the contextual expectations of the cross-sector strategists and on their internal reflections to solve value conflicts – in order to explore their process of becoming a part of the local government administration. A mixed-methods design is applied, containing analysis of job advertisements for cross-sector strategists, public managers, and social workers; in-depth interviews with cross-sector strategists; and a survey of professional networks for cross-sector strategists. The results show that cross-sector strategists are subjects to ambivalent and often-contradictory contextual expectations. Cross-sector strategists use the ambivalence of their work for their strategic purposes, and such ambivalence allows them to reframe their topics, their methods, their arguments, and their identity according to current situation in order to increase the impact of their assigned topics and diminish the inner conflict of wanting to be both a responsive bureaucrat and an active lobbyist. Combining these two dedications requires them to be highly reflexive and flexible actors. The outcome of cross-sector strategists’ coping with value conflicts can be interpreted in two ways: 1) as if the cross-sector strategists are a formal tool to safeguard crucial democratic and ethical values due to the cross-sector strategists’ method of sneaking the strategic policy areas into the organization. Or 2) as a to democracy risky administrative behavior in the long-term due to the disguising of value conflicts and diminished possibilities to process these value conflicts.

It is argued that political-administrative organizations are becoming increasingly complex with more horizontal governance required. In Swedish municipal administration, there is a group of administrators assigned the task of monitoring and promoting strategic topics that should be integrated horizontally within the organization. Examples of strategic topics are sustainability, safety/security, diversity, children/youth, public health, human rights, and gender equality. In the thesis, these administrators are called cross-sector strategists. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how cross-sector strategists become a part of the political-administrative organization when representing, enacting, and reflecting on values in the undertaking of their formal posts. They are situated between the tradition of vertical governance, with formal procedures and hierarchy as its foundation, and the tradition of horizontal governance, with informal networks and deliberation as its foundation. Previous research has shown that this is likely to give rise to value conflicts, and the question is if cross-sector strategists experience value conflicts, and if so, how they cope with them. The cross-sector strategists are studied in this thesis from the perspective of situated agency – focusing on both the contextual expectations of the cross-sector strategists and on their internal reflections to solve value conflicts – in order to explore their process of becoming a part of the local government administration. A mixed-methods design is applied, containing analysis of job advertisements for cross-sector strategists, public managers, and social workers; in-depth interviews with cross-sector strategists; and a survey of professional networks for cross-sector strategists. The results show that cross-sector strategists are subjects to ambivalent and often-contradictory contextual expectations. Cross-sector strategists use the ambivalence of their work for their strategic purposes, and such ambivalence allows them to reframe their topics, their methods, their arguments, and their identity according to current situation in order to increase the impact of their assigned topics and diminish the inner conflict of wanting to be both a responsive bureaucrat and an active lobbyist. Combining these two dedications requires them to be highly reflexive and flexible actors. The outcome of cross-sector strategists’ coping with value conflicts can be interpreted in two ways: 1) as if the cross-sector strategists are a formal tool to safeguard crucial democratic and ethical values due to the cross-sector strategists’ method of sneaking the strategic policy areas into the organization. Or 2) as a to democracy risky administrative behavior in the long-term due to the disguising of value conflicts and diminished possibilities to process these value conflicts.

Policy entrepreneurs and their role for policy change, policy integration and cross-cutting governance has been thoroughly investigated. Here, focus is on a previously neglected aspect of policy entrepreneurship: the tendency to employ public bureaucrats with formal positions to act as policy entrepreneurs for policy integration. Based on 34 interviews with these actors in the Swedish local and regional government, three versions of this formalized policy entrepreneurship are identified: Informal compensation for formal vertical flaws, Making others do things and Integration in the vertical formal organization. These versions of formalized policy entrepreneurship brings a deeper understanding to the development of governance for policy integration, and also to the policy entrepreneurial role in the political-administrative organization. © 2019 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

There is increasing attention to the role of education in teaching environmental issues such as climate change (Teach the Future, n.d.). Whilst environmental issues are science-dependent, science is not sufficient to respond to today’s environmental challenges. Yet internationally, science and geography are those subjects most likely to include environmental content (UNESCO, 2021). In England, students can expect to learn about environmental challenges including climate change, biodiversity and pollution during their compulsory science education (DfE, 2013). These topics are often controversial, rife with moral tensions (Zeidler, Herman, & Sadler, 2019), and characterised by both descriptive facts and normative values. The values often deal with solutions to the problems, what kind of actions can be taken on an individual or societal level and even what kind of society is preferred. This makes the issues both scientific and political. Yet little is known about how politics enters the science classroom. In this study, we aim to understand how environmental politics enters the classroom, and how science teachers address different approaches to political participation with their students.

In order to develop democratic environmental governance, there is a need for representation of different groups of people, opportunities for participation and for spaces for deliberation (Lidskog & Elander, 2007), i.e. for politics. Schools are potential sites for participation and deliberation and for learning democracy (Biesta & Lawy, 2006). Politics can be defined in different ways, from a narrow focus on electoral processes to broader conceptualisations which include different ways of making decisions and shaping power relations. In this study, we are concerned with power and social change (Dahl & Stinebrickner, 2003) i.e. “the capacity for agency and deliberation in situations of genuine collective or social choice” (Hay, 2007, p. 77) through science education. This definition of politics goes beyond electoral and party politics and includes activities outside formal political institutions. This is in accordance with Heywood (1999)’s characterisation of politics as an a social activity that arises out of interaction between or among people, which develops out of diversity (the existence of different interests, wants, needs and goals), and which relates to collective decisions which are regarded as binding upon a group of people. Carter (2018) identifies the environment as a policy problem for several reasons, including that the environment can be considered a public good, with complex and interdependent relationships between people and ecosystems acting across national borders with consequences felt into the future.

This characterisation of politics is relevant to the study context as education is a social activity which brings together people with different views, interests and goals in relation to the environment, and it is a context in which collective decisions can be made, for example, about how the school function, what is taught (and how), and what actions or outcomes are desirable as a result of education. Not all of these actions and outcomes can be considered political and we see politics as related to societal engagement and political participation more broadly. Ekman and Amnå (2012) have developed a typology of different forms of participation in society. They distinguish between (a) non-participation (disengagement); (b) civic participation (latent political), whether social involvement or civic engagement; and (c) political participation (manifest political), which can be formal political participation or activism. Each of these three types of participation are further classified in terms of individual and collective forms. In this study, we use Ekman and Amnå’s (2012) typology to understand the ways in which teachers address the political dimensions of the environment in school science. The research question we set out to explore in the study is: how do science teachers address political participation in science education?

Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAn exploratory qualitative approach was used to understand science teachers’ perceptions and approaches to environmental politics. We focused on science teachers with responsibility for teaching students aged 11-16 in England because we were interested in what students experience during their compulsory secondary science education, where the curriculum demands that they learn about ecosystems and the environment. 

A deductive approach to instrument design was used, drawing on Ekman and Amnå’s (2012) typology of latent and manifest political participation and non-participation (see Table 1 above) in the design of the interview guide and in the analysis of data to understand the ways in which politics enters the science classroom. Given the potentially sensitive nature of some of the questions, we used one-to-one interviews, conducted online to increase the geographical reach, and minimise the need for travel.  The interview guide contained open-ended questions on science teachers’ perspectives on and experiences of teaching environmental politics in science education.  We deliberately did not ask about educational policy; only about teachers’ own experiences, practices, personal perspectives and barriers they encountered.  

Participants were provided with an infographic using examples from Ekman and Amnå’s (2012) typology and asked to mark ways of participating in society which they had:planned and taught (green); mentioned in passing or in response to a question from a student (orange); and, never addressed (red).  The interview focused on reasons for these decisions.  Interviews were conducted by three members of the research team and took place in January - June 2022. Each lasted approximately 1 hour. 

Interviews with 11 teachers were recorded and transcribed and interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2004) used to analyse the data.  This approach aims not at generalisation but rather to understand how individuals make sense of their own experiences (Guihen, 2019), namely, how politics enters the science classroom.  IPA is typically used to generate meaningful insights from a small dataset, often in psychology and health sciences.  It is appropriate here because it provides a way to understand how participants make sense of their social world, it allows for diversity of perceptions rather than looking for a single objective truth and it allows researchers to interpret these experiences and understand the perspective of an insider and then interpret what it means for them to have this perspective (Reid, Flowers, & Larkin, 2005). An iterative approach to data analysis was used, with reflexive discussions between each stage of analysis.   Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsTeachers participating in this study saw a place for politics in science education.  However, it  was described as almost absent in lessons. Teachers were more likely to discuss individual, legal, forms of participation, focusing on civil (latent political) actions rather than collective, manifest forms of participating. Even when politics enters the classroom, it tends to be students rather than teachers who introduce the topic, unless there are links to the curriculum or other legal and political frameworks. Policy (national and school) and colleague and student perceptions prevented teachers from planning to discuss manifest forms of political participation with students.  

Politics (especially collective aspects) are experienced as off-limits to teachers in the study. This post-political logic distances people (here, young people but also teachers) from involvement in decision-making and reduces their capacity to be involved in environmental decision-making now and in the future.  These absences, we argue, contribute to a broader societal trend which closes off spaces to discuss and celebrate disagreement (Blühdorn & Deflorian, 2021), and which diminish the potential for young people to learn democracy. In order to develop democratic governance of environmental issues, there is a need for representation, opportunities for participation and for spaces for deliberation (Liskog & Elander, 2007).  Schools are in many ways ideal sites to encourage political participation as they are shared spaces of learning - both about forms of participation but also how to participate and to deliberate across disagreement, or as one of the teachers in this study put it ‘we need to teach them how to use their voice properly and how to be heard’. This requires those who are in positions where they can act to listen to these voices and engage in deliberation and bring politics - as the capacity to deliberate and make collective decisions - into the science classroom.