Decentralised elderly care in transition

Authors

  • David Feltenius Department of Political Science, Umeå University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v14i3/4.16288

Keywords:

Central-local government relations, Governance, Policy instruments, Care for the elderly

Abstract

Since the early 1980s and onwards, there has been a decentralization of power and responsibility to the municipalities for care for the elderly (i.e. there has been a de- crease in central state control). However, at the end of the 1990s and onwards, there were signs of a reversal in this trend as the government presented action and development plans concerning the municipalities’ performance with regard to elderly care. The question investigated in this article is through which policy instruments this governing took place. According to the literature on governance, it is likely that governing will take place through “soft” policy instruments such as “information”, “agreements” and “projects”. The argument made by the literature on governance is supported by an empirical investigation of the content of the government’s action and development plans. In addition, interviews with key figures responsible for the government’s action and development plans show that the governing performed by the central state could be interpreted in terms of a compromise between two incompatible goals: on the one hand to increase central state level control to combat cases of poor performance within care for the elderly; on the other hand to respect the principle of municipal self rule.

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Author Biography

David Feltenius, Department of Political Science, Umeå University

Dr David Feltenius is a research assistant in political science at the Department of Political Science, Umeå University. Feltenius researches Swedish politics and administration with an emphasis on elderly policy, constitutional issues and division of responsibilities. Recently, the research has mainly been conducted within a project on the parties and the 2010 constitutional revision (funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) and a project on power and influence in Swedish elderly care (funded by the Swedish Research Council).

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Published

2010-12-15

How to Cite

Feltenius, D. (2010). Decentralised elderly care in transition. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 14(3/4), 61–85. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v14i3/4.16288

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Section

Original Articles

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