The challenge of localizing public services – equal access to public services and democratic governance in the whole of Sweden
Short description
Hard political decisions need to be made in the coming years. The future for Sweden's rural areas depends on the capacity of local communities to democratically address the challenges that come with decisions on the location of public services. In order to create a sustainable society, decisions must be accepted or at least tolerated by the
population.
All around Sweden, initiatives are taken by local and regional political actors to defend public services and find innovative solutions. We must learn from both successes and setbacks. This project aims to support learning between municipalities and regions.
This project aims to increase knowledge about how political priorities and decision-making on the location of public services can be made in a legitimate way.
Publications by project members relvant to the project
Karlsson, David & Skoog, Louise. (2025) The spatial dimension of political dissent – Centre-periphery dynamics in Sweden. Political Geography, 116, 103248. (published online 2024)
Esaiasson, Peter & de Fine Licht, Jenny (2024): Walking a mile in their
shoes —How local politicians reason about trade-off decisions, Local Government Studies, (published online ahead of print).
de Fine Licht, Jenny; Karlsson, David & Skoog, Louise. (2024). Location of Public Services. Legitimacy, Challenges, and Solutions in Sweden. Palgrave Mcmillan. ISBN 978-3-031-64462-7.
Kantur, Ertan (2024) På spaning efter de bibliotek som flytt. En rapport om folkbibliotek ur ett lokaliseringsperspektiv. Förvaltningshögskolans rapportserie nr 168. Göteborg: Förvaltningshögskolan, Göteborgs universitet.
(Ertan Kantur skrev rapporten som praktikant i projektet).
Karlsson, David (2024) Kommunernas makt. Om kommunal självstyrelse i det svenska statsskicket. I Tommy Möller (red.) En författning i tiden. Regeringsformen under 50 år. Stockholm: Medströms bokförlag.
de Fine Licht, Jenny; Karlsson, David och Louise Skoog (2023) Här där eller överallt? "Medborgares åsikter om lokalisering av offentlig service". I Ulrika Andersson, Patrik Öhberg, Anders Carlander, Johan Martinsson & Nora Theorin (red) Ovisshetens tid. Göteborg: SOM-institutet, Göteborgs universitet. Tabellbilaga.
Karlsson, David & Skoog, Louise (2023), Lokalisering av offentlig service som politikområde – partipolitiska åsiktskonflikter i svenska kommuner. School of Public Administration Working Paper series 36.
de Fine Licht, Jenny; Agerberg, Mattias och Esaiasson, Peter. (2022). “It’s not over when it’s over”―Post-decision arrangements and empirical legitimacy. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 32(1): 183-199.
Karlsson, David (2022), "Lokalisering av offentlig service – ideologi och egenintresse". Kapitel i Patrik Öhberg, Henrik Oscarsson & Jakob Ahlbom red. Folkviljans förverkligare Göteborgs universitet: Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
Karlsson, David (2022) "Svenska politikers syn på kommunalt självstyre, likvärdighet och decentralisering av service". Kapitel i Bo Per Larsson (red) "Självstyrelse – värd att värna?"
Berg, Rebecka, och de Fine Licht, Jenny. (2021). När kommunen sagt sitt. Efterprocessen vid kommunal vindkraftsetablering. Förvaltningshögskolans rapportserie, 162.
de Fine Licht, Jenny & Esaiasson, Peter. (2021). When Interests Collide – Politicians’ Perceptions of hard Decisions. Paper presented at the workshop “Improving on perfection? Democratic innovations in Nordic democracies” at the 2021 Congress of the Nordic Political Science Association.
Fogelholm, Petra; de Fine Licht, Jenny & Esaiasson, Peter. (2019). När beslutet fattats: en studie av kommuners hantering av skolnedläggningar. Förvaltningshögskolans rapportserie, 19: 150.
