Sustainable communities in the Kattegat-Skagerrak region — Welfare reforms, collaborative governance and changing managerial roles

Nordic societies have invested significant resources in reforming the governance systems of the public sector and in the further education and training of leaders and managers, yet little is known about the effects of such initiatives. The project contributes to a better understanding of the complex interplay between the reform processes and shifts in governance regimes and on the driving factors and effects these have had on political and administrative culture and leadership preferences at the level of local government. By shedding light on how the administrative model across the Nordic countries (using the Skagerrak- Kattegat region as a case study) responds to emerging challenges, such as the need to coordinate across boundaries and policy portfolios as well as macro-level phenomena like digitalisation, the project provides new empirical and conceptual insights regarding the changing nature of Nordic local government.The project brings together a diverse network of junior and senior scholars in the fields of public administration and organisational studies associated with four distinct research groups from Norway, Denmark and Sweden.