Avgjerdsfelle eller tvitydig reform?

Abstract

The recent Norwegian local government reform showed a great deal of variation in the pace of amalgamations between counties and region types. The reform realized main objectives, such as a reduction in the number of small local government regimes and compliance between municipal borders and functional labor market regions, in a geographically uneven way. The article aims to explain this variation through two theoretical frameworks, Joint Decisions Traps (JDT) and Multiple Streams Framework (MSF). JDT expects that policymaking through cross level negotiations leads to the least common multiple, which is often status quo. Our analysis confirmed this. Where the outcome was different, it was mainly because local government regimes agreed on amalgamation and focused on problem-solving rather than negotiations. What JDT cannot explain is the variation of outcomes in time and space. For this purpose, MSF, which points out that complex policies and decision rules create ambiguity and make it possible to legitimize conflicting positions, seems more suitable. Ambiguity results in varying proposals among county governors and municipalities. This model also shows how variation in the political stream between different decision points in time and space leads to varying political process outcomes, a result we could find in the different phases of the local government reform.