SJPA Special Issue Introduction: Providing ’Hard’ Local Government Services in a Multi-Level, Multi-Actor System

Lisa Hansson (PhD) is Associate Professor in Political Science at Molde University College – Specialized University in Logistics, Norway. She has a PhD in Technology and Social Change from Linköping University and has previously worked at Linköping University and the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI. Her research is mainly within transport policy and sustainable urban development; addressing aspects related to regulatory governance, competitive tendering and socio-technical change.

Harald Torsteinsen is Professor and Doctor of Political Science/Public Management at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Social Sciences (Campus Harstad). His research interests include administrative and political innovation and reform in local government, management and organization of public service provision, and hybridity and legitimacy in regional and local government. Recent publications in English: (1) “Effects of External Agentification in Local Government: A European Comparison of Municipal Waste Management” (with co-authors Van Genugten, Mikula, Mussons and Puey), in Kopric, I., Wollmann, H. and Marcou, G. (Eds) Evaluating Reforms in Local Public and Social Services in Europe. More Evidence for Better Results. Palgrave MacMillan 2018, 171-189, and (2) “Debate: Corporatization in local government – the need for a comparative and multi-disciplinary research approach”, Public Money & Management, 39(1), 5-8.