Public and private networks in a multi-level perspective : A case of Swedish migration policy

• In recent governmental reports, the migration policy area has been pointed out asbeing characterized by coordination problems and shortcomings in accountability.In today's system, the responsibility is shared between several authorities, and themunicipalities, the Swedish Public Employment Service, the County Councils, theSwedish Migration Board, and publicly financed private services are the centralactors. Having that said, Swedish migration policy represents an archetypalexample of a complex governing process that spans several vertical levels andincludes a variety of actors with sometimes- conflicting responsibilities. Our studyhas the purpose of inquiring into governing within the “establishment reform”,and we base it on interviews with key actors and derive from theoretical idealtypes of networks, markets, and hierarchies. The results are somewhat unexpected.Networking structures run parallel with uncertainties concerning responsibilitiesin this area. Although this is a general flaw in such forms of governance, theaspects of combining this model with strong constraints in self-governance aremore unexpected. Hence, networks are forced to have a top-down perspective,combined with great restrictions in autonomy for the involved actors.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Statsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Political Science (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

governance

networks

hierarchies

markets

migration policy

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)