Politics of Horizontal Public Sector Coordination - The Case of Frail Elderly Policy in Sweden 2008-18

• The quality of care for frail elderly people is highly dependent on the coordination of health care and social services by responsible agencies and involved organized interests. In theory, such public sector coordination can be done through hierarchy, markets, networks, and collaboration. In Sweden, coordination of frail elder care policy is traditionally made through horizontal management by multi-level networks and collaboration in local-regional coordination bodies. However, during the last decade this decentralized model of coordinating organization and processes for quality is increasingly challenged by central state policy efforts to balance or centralize coordination trough hierarchy and markets. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework based on previously suggested conceptualization of the politics of public sector coordination, and to apply this framework in an analysis of public policy change 2008-18, through an ex ante policy analysis of change anticipated to take place from midterm 2018. From generated hypotheses, the findings show that policymakers ́ framing and priming include a need to impose more central hierarchy to carry out reforms based on the value of social and moral equality, but without any significant positive incentive or nudge to the primary responsible local and regional government levels.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Statsvetenskap -- Studier av offentlig förvaltning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Political Science -- Public Administration Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Horizontal Politics

Governance

Management

Public Sector Coordination

Frail Elderly Policy

Local Government

Regional Government

Public Policy Analysis

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