Utsatta bostadsområden och områdesorienterad politik: problembilder, målsättningar och implementeringsstrategier i det svenska fallet

Områdesorienterade insatser har länge varit centrala element i svensk politik mot utsatta områden. Lika länge har kritik funnits mot att insatserna inte når sina mål. Medan somliga menar att den områdesorienterade politiken i Sverige är ett symbolpolitiskt försök att sprida ansvaret för offentliga nedskärningar, menar andra att upprepningen av en politik utan framgångar är tecken på oförmåga hos beslutsfattare att förstå segregationens bakomliggande orsaker. I artikeln lanserar vi en tredje syn: svensk områdespolitik bör ses som ett stöd till genomförandet av olika sektorsmål i utsatta bostadsområden. En implikation av vårt argument är att politiken ofta bedömts utifrån felaktiga grunder

Games Local Actors Play : Rationality and Frustration in Network Governance and Swedish Neighbourhood Renewal

Grounded in a rational choice perspective, this thesis tries to develop the study of network governance. The starting point is a puzzling pattern of local multi-organizational cooperation observed in official evaluation reports on urban neighbourhood renewal in Sweden. Although collaboration between social authorities, housing companies and tenants’ organizations repeatedly end in frustration over processes as well as outcomes, new cooperation efforts are continually implemented. That is, while the governance literature claims lack of cooperation to be the most important factor explaining policy failures and implementation deficits, Swedish urban renewal seems to be a case of repeated cooperation without progress and frustration without disintegration on the local level. Why is that? Is the phenomenon possible to explain without giving up the assumption that actors in local policy are more or less rational, given their aims and perceptions? An ideal type definition of network governance is suggested and a mechanism approach to network governance is outlined. Four cases of neighbourhood renewal over twenty years or more are analyzed from a rationalistic perspective. The first is an intensive case study based on primary data from minutes, informal meetings, in-depth interviews and official documents. This close analysis of one case is then combined with process analysis of three more cases based on secondary data. The final analysis is a rationalistic interpretation of repeated cooperation with frustration in the four cases. Although the key actors all have a preference for more cooperation, the four cases are characterized by an endless search for specific modes of cooperation. In terms of game theory this is interpreted as a problem of generosity or a “battle of the sexes” game. Hence the “negotiators dilemma” that informal networks are supposed to handle according to the theory, seems to repeat itself on the level of institutional design

Participatory Bias and Participatory Neighborhood Governance : Reanalyzing the Most-Likely Case of the Stockholm Neighborhood Renewal Program

Strategies for revitalizing marginalized neighborhoods often include participatory innovations. According to the participatory bias argument, however, participatory governance arrangements benefit the privileged rather than the poor. In the present article, the validity of this argument is examined by analyzing how individual resources and social positions relates to recruitment to, participation within, and outcomes derived from participation in a most-likely case of bias in participatory neighborhood governance. Although the privileged were overrepresented in recruitment, the pattern was less clear regarding influence within the processes, and quite the opposite regarding certain outcomes of participation. Also in a most-likely case for bias, participatory neighborhood governance may induce empowerment among poor. Based on the observation that participants that differ with regard to available resources and social positions also have different motives for participation, a mechanism-based account regarding why and how bias in early phases under certain conditions may produce empowering outcomes is proposed

Local Participatory Governance and Representative Democracy : Institutional Dilemmas in European Cities

Buku ini memberikan informasi mengenai sudut pandang para akademisi terhadap sistem penyampaian aspirasi masyarakat terhadap pemerintah dalam konteks sistem demokrasi.Penulis menegaskan bahwa sejak dahulu pemerintah sudah melakukan berbagai program dengan berbagai istilah dengan tujuan menampung pendapat atau solusi dari masyarakat terhadap masalah kompleks serta global, yaitu perubahan iklim dan segresi. Mereka menyebutnya dengan citizens panel, deliberative fora, collaborative dialogue dan sejenisnya. Para akademisi pun memiliki istilah semakna dengan segala upayan tersebut. Oleh karena itu, penulis berusaha mengembangkan sistem partisipasi pemerintah lokal yang dapat dipalikasikan untuk menampung masukan dari stakeholder semisal tipe komunikasi, tipe relasi, dan lainnya