Removing barriers to freedom of movement - A study of border regional actors pushing for change in state dominated environments

Increasing cross-border interaction in the border regions combined with the largely state-centric legislative processes of the nation states, have unfolded a demand for border regional actors to attempt to influence the state level to change legislation, as barriers are identified for individuals and companies. Adapting a border regional perspective, the actors and organisational methods to remove barriers to freedom of movement in three selected border regions are analysed. Using an inductive approach, the primary material consisting of interviews with key border regional actors is analysed through the lenses of transgovernmental network theory. The conclusion is that the border regions have developed largely similar sets of organisational methods, resting heavily on key border regional actors (organisations and individuals) and the various transnational networks they establish. The transgovernmental border regional networks are characterised (i) by being dominated by public actors; (ii) by actors stretching their authority and developing transnational perspectives; (iii) by consisting of a number of key individuals, but at the same time flexibly integrating new actors when demanded; (iv) by having strong horizontal links on the border regional and regional level, but relatively weak vertical links; (v) by being built informal relations and using informal tools to influence

Den moderna verksamhetschefen

Verksamhetschefsreformen har inneburit en förändring inom svensk sjukvård. Uppgifter som tidigare låg högre upp i organisationen har nu flyttats ner och lagts på verksamhetschefen. Med utgångspunkt i Universitetssjukhuset i Lund beskrivs dels mer utförligt de strikt formella förväntningar, mål och regler som finns kring utformningen av verksamhetschefspositionen, dels de mer informella förväntningar och mål som finns på olika nivåer i hierarkin. En slutsats är att sjukhusledningens idéer i vissa avseenden står i kontrast till de normer och idéer som fortfarande lever kvar på lägre nivåer i organisationen. Två organisationsteoretiska perspektiv har använts för att tolka det förändringsarbete som reformen har inneburit. Som resultat av denna tolkning har slutsatsen att båda perspektiven inte för sig är kapabla att ge en fullständig bild av reformen nåtts, men att de tillsammans förmår ge en mer komplett beskrivning

Working time? - A Sociological Institutionalist account

The EU is characterised by a decentralised model of implementation, leaving significant space for the member states in the process. This paper seeks to advance a Sociological Institutionalism (SI), an under-represented approach on transposition studies. The frame of analysis deals with institutionalization, norms, logics of appropriateness and the concept of change; which in turn is applied on a case of delayed transposition: The Working Time Directive. The process in Sweden and the UK are studied. The study shows that the process of transposition was politicized, with many and high level actors involved. The norms and rules in the directive together with national level logics of appropriateness were mapped, and clearly conflicted, giving rise to substantial conflict. Although the countries differ in several relevant aspects, the central conclusion is that the strongly institutionalized, political character of the policy field, together with the fact that the international rules and norms clashed with the national logics of appropriateness seems to have caused the delay. This in turn contributed to limited and incremental change