How Regional Authorities Act Under Restricted Decentralization: Evidence from the Norwegian Transport Sector

Authors

  • Julie Runde Krogstad Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway
  • Merethe Dotterud Leiren Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v23i2.8659

Keywords:

decentralization, reform, transport, coordination, Norway

Abstract

The literature on decentralization points out that there is a tendency to limit discretion at the local level by, for example, imposing national standards. It is therefore of interest to understand how sub-national authorities act under conditions of political decentralization, which is not followed by a similar delegation of administrative competence. Are sub- national authorities able to make policy changes or do they simply follow the same path as the central state authorities prior to decentralization? Drawing on insights from organisational perspectives, it might be expected that the shift of organisational locus affects policy change. Based on qualitative data, we explore the Norwegian Reform of Government Administration, which transferred the bulk of the national road network to the regional level in 2010. This was a political decentralization reform. The sub-national authorities continued to rely on the national road agency’s competence. Although standards, the professional community in the road agency and limited financial resources hampered the effect of the reform, we find that the regional authorities were able to influence the focus of the road agency towards a more sustainable and holistic regional perspective.

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Author Biographies

Julie Runde Krogstad, Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway

Julie Runde Krogstad (MA Political Science) is advisor at the transport department in Agder County and former Senior Researcher at TØI - Institute of Transport Economics, Norway. She worked at TØI when working on the REGPOL project, from which this article is a result. Her research at TØI addresses dilemmas related to decentralization of transport policies and discretion of sub-national authorities, marketization and agencification in public transport, multi-level governance in urban transport and political anchorage of networks. Her current work focuses primarily on transport safety, cycling and mobility.

Merethe Dotterud Leiren, Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway

Merethe Dotterud Leiren (PhD) is Senior Researcher and Political Scientist at CICERO – Center for International Climate Research, Norway. She worked at the Institute of Transport Economics, Norway, when working on the REGPOL project, from which this article is a result. She has been a Research Fellow at University of Agder, and Guest Researcher at the Humboldt University Berlin. She is particularly interested in dilemmas related to the balance between climate/environmental policy, social policy and economic efficiency in multi-level governance systems, where regulations at one political level creates challenges at other political levels. Her publications address transport, energy and climate policies.

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Published

2019-06-15

How to Cite

Runde Krogstad, J., & Dotterud Leiren, M. (2019). How Regional Authorities Act Under Restricted Decentralization: Evidence from the Norwegian Transport Sector. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 23(2), 79–96. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v23i2.8659

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