Parliamentary Government and Corporatism at the Crossroads: Principals and Agents in Norwegian Agricultural Policymaking

This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. It is the author’s last version of the article after peer-review, usually referred to as postprint, or accepted version. Please cite only the published version.The article analyses the interplay between agency problems at various stages in the parliamentary chain of delegation and external constraints related to corporatist negotiations in Norwegian agricultural policymaking. The combination of minority government and MPs tending to have more extreme preferences than the voters, and corporatist integration of specialized interests, may lead to an accumulation of agency costs. However, the study shows that we need to specify carefully the conditions under which this will occur. The article is based on official policy documents and a survey of citizens.acceptedVersio

Equivalence and Mutual Recognition in Trade Arrangements Relevance for the WTO and the Codex Alimentarius Commission

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Globaliseringens betydning for forskningsbehov i mat- og jordbrukspolitikken

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Sjømateksport og veterinær grensekontroll med og uten EØS

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Sjømat og handelsrestriksjoner. Metoder for å forenkle handelen

Sentrale spørsmål i denne rapporten er: Hvordan har handelsrestriksjoner på norsk sjømat kommet til uttrykk i noen utvalgte case? Hvilke faktorer har spilt inn i forbindelse med problemene mellom ulike lands reguleringssystemer, og hvordan har man arbeidet for å komme fram til løsninger i disse sakene? Våre utvalgte case er knyttet til problemer med handelen på markedene i den Europeiske Union (EU), Sør-Korea og Russland. […]publishedVersio

Taxation of Agriculture in selected countries. Study of The United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy with relevance to the WTO

This report looks at the special measures for agriculture within the field of taxation and social security. Chapter 1 and 2 deal with general overview of taxes and taxation principles. Chapter 3 give more detailed information of the tax system in the selected countries, US, Canada, Australia, Germany, UK, France, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. Chapter four deals with notifications to the Committee on Agriculture in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) concerning tax measures. In chapter 5 we have tried to systematize the different tax schemes in the selected countries.Taxation of Agriculture in selected countries. Study of The United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Switzerland and Italy with relevance to the WTOpublishedVersio

Understanding peer support: a qualitative interview study of doctors one year after seeking support

Background Doctors’ health is of importance for the quality and development of health care and to doctors themselves. As doctors are hesitant to seek medical treatment, peer support services, with an alleged lower threshold for seeking help, is provided in many countries. Peer support services may be the first place to which doctors turn when they search for support and advice relating to their own health and private or professional well-being. This paper explores how doctors perceive the peer support service and how it can meet their needs. Materials and methods Twelve doctors were interviewed a year after attending a peer support service which is accessible to all doctors in Norway. The qualitative, semi-structured interviews took place by on-line video meetings or over the phone (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) during 2020 and were audiotaped. Analysis was data-driven, and systematic text condensation was used as strategy for the qualitative analysis. The empirical material was further interpreted with the use of theories of organizational culture by Edgar Schein. Results The doctors sought peer support due to a range of different needs including both occupational and personal challenges. They attended peer support to engage in dialogue with a fellow doctor outside of the workplace, some were in search of a combination of dialogue and mental health care. The doctors wanted peer support to have a different quality from that of a regular doctor/patient appointment. The doctors expressed they needed and got psychological safety and an open conversation in a flexible and informal setting. Some of these qualities are related to the formal structure of the service, whereas others are based on the way the service is practised. Conclusions Peer support seems to provide psychological safety through its flexible, informal, and confidential characteristics. The service thus offers doctors in need of support a valued and suitable space that is clearly distinct from a doctor/patient relationship. The doctors’ needs are met to a high extent by the peer-support service, through such conditions that the doctors experience as beneficial.publishedVersio

Standardisering og internasjonal handel. Rammebetingelser for fiskerinæringen

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Trade Facilitation through Equivalence and Mutual Recognition: The EU Model

This report explores how equivalence and mutual recognition have been applied by the European Union (EU) in order to facilitate trade. The EU is of particular interest in this area because it has been in the forefront internationally with regard to applying these tools, both in its internal market project and in its external trade relations. The report includes an empirical mapping of EU’s experience with applying equivalence and mutual recognition as trade facilitating tools. The aim here is to increase the understanding of how these tools can be relevant and important in a wider global context, in particular with regard to food trade. Furthermore, based on this experience some of the challenges that countries are faced with when applying these tools are highlighted thus allowing some assessments of the prospects of and difficulties in achieving trade facilitation through these means. Chapter 2 includes an account of some of the regulatory approaches that the EU has pursued in its attempts at realising an internal market, from the adoption of common rules, to mutual recognition and the «Better Regulation» programme included in the Lisbon strategy. Chapter 3 discusses EU’s rules for third-country relations. Furthermore, some of EU’s mutual recognition and equivalence agreements are explored. In addition to these, Chapter 3 includes an account of one-way judgements of equivalence included in EU’s rules for imports of organic food and fishery products. Chapter 4 presents EU’s work and positions on equivalence and mutual recognition in the WTO and the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Chapter 5 includes an assessment of the EU’s experience with mutual recognition and equivalence. Finally, in Chapter 6 some conclusions and final remarks are made. […]publishedVersio

Are international bureaucracies vehicles for the common good?

This paper challenges widely held claims that international bureaucracies lack the potential to profoundly shape the behaviour, roles and identities of its personnel, and that the role of international civil servants are primarily shaped by where the officials come from. It is argued and empirically suggested that international bureaucracies may possess considerable clout to shape some basic behavioural perceptions among its personnel. The rise of what is phrased as ‘actor-level supranationalism’ among international civil servants suggests that international bureaucracies ‘matter’ and adds value beyond being mere secretariats of member-state governments – thus serving a ‘common good’. Benefiting from a large and novel set of interviews with civil servants from the European Commission, the OECD Secretariat and the WTO Secretariat, ‘actor-level supranationalism’ is shown to rise through internal and external processes of socialisation and adaptation. Actor-level supranationalism is associated with four factors: (i) the length of tenure among international civil servants, (ii) types of prior institutional affiliations of these officials, (iii) size and scope of administrative capacities of international bureaucracies, and (iv) the power and autonomy of international bureaucracies