Regional Partnerships and their Constructions and Implementations

This book addresses regional partnerships in the
Norwegian context, a theme that the author has
explored in depth through a doctoral thesis. In
Norway, the use of regional partnerships in regional
planning and development, whose main inspiration
stems from the EU s concept of regional partnership,
is a new phenomenon. The comparative analysis of the
three case counties has shown that they have
implemented regional partnerships as institutional
constructions but they have understood it as three
different concepts. The conclusion is that
partnerships can appear in different forms as they
develop in stages or steps in an institutionalising
process. This study indicates that regional
partnerships as institutional constructions exist as
hybrid forms, situated between what the author has
designated as weak or strong partnerships. The
analysis of agreements and contracts as regulatory
mechanisms at the regional level has shown,
furthermore, that agreements and contracts move the
locus of directing from a traditional democratic
model to an output model , which creates certain
dilemmas. At regional level in Norway, governance as
policy exists in the shadow of government .

Autorentext

Ulla Higdem is Dr. Scient from the Norwegian University of Life
Sciences, Dept. of Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning.
She is Assoc. professor at Lillehammer University College. Higdem
has for many years been working on issues as regional planning,
regional development, partnership, governance, both as a
practitioner and as an academic.

Klappentext

This book addresses regional partnerships in the
Norwegian context, a theme that the author has
explored in depth through a doctoral thesis. In
Norway, the use of regional partnerships in regional
planning and development, whose main inspiration
stems from the EU's concept of regional partnership,
is a new phenomenon. The comparative analysis of the
three case counties has shown that they have
implemented regional partnerships as institutional
constructions but they have understood it as three
different concepts. The conclusion is that
partnerships can appear in different forms as they
develop in stages or steps in an institutionalising
process. This study indicates that regional
partnerships as institutional constructions exist as
hybrid forms, situated between what the author has
designated as "weak" or "strong" partnerships. The
analysis of agreements and contracts as regulatory
mechanisms at the regional level has shown,
furthermore, that agreements and contracts move the
locus of directing from a traditional democratic
model to an "output model", which creates certain
dilemmas. At regional level in Norway, governance as
policy exists "in the shadow of government".