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Omstilling og utvikling i norske kommuner : mye skrik og lite ull?

Sørensen, Rune Jørgen
Research report
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/94230
Date
2007
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  • Research Reports [132]
Abstract
Local authorities in Norway countries face a number of challenges. Municipalities

are often seen as old-fashioned and inefficient. Recent exposures of corruption

have damaged their reputation further. Local government is not perceived as an

attractive place of work. This is serious because shares of elderly will increase

significantly from 2010, particularly in peripheral districts. Demographics means

that local government will need more employees to meet the increasing demand for

health care services and old-age care. Serious quality problems have been observed

in education and old-age care. At the same time, a better-educated public wants

better information, more influence and better quality public services. Finally, many

observers claim that the local democracy is in trouble. Participation in local

elections and political parties is declining, and elected representatives believe they

have limited scope for pursuing their political agendas.

This report addresses governance reforms initiated by local governments during the

last 10-15 years. Initiatives include reforms of local democracy and relations to

citizenry, new procedures for internal governance, attempts to improve user

satisfaction, use of quasi-markets and competitive tendering, and the establishment

of inter-municipal companies to exploit economies of scale.

The crux of the analysis is whether these initiatives have improved performance.

The report reviews a large number of government commission reports, consultancy

evaluations and research papers. We suggest that concerns about the alleged

decline of local democracy have been exaggerated. Internal governance procedures

have been developed, but it is hard to see significant improvements in actual

performance. Relations with service users have not changed much, and the use of

competitive tendering is limited to some infrastructure services. The use of intermunicipal

companies has increased a lot, but cost efficiency and political control

appear to suffer from dispersed ownership.
Publisher
Handelshøyskolen BI
Series
Forskningsrapport;3/2007

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