Regional Impacts a Comparative Nordic Perspective

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Regional Impacts a Comparative Nordic Perspective Restructuring the State – Regional Impacts A Comparative Nordic Perspective Edited by Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith and Lars Olof Persson With contributions by: Paul Olav Berg, Torben Dall Schmidt, Sigurður Gudmunðsson, Valdimar Halldórsson, Merja Kokkonen, Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith, Jörg Neubauer, Lars Olof Persson and Stein Østbye Future Challenges and Institutional Preconditions for Regional Development Policy, Volume 5 Nordregio 2002 First published in 2002 by Nordregio. PO Box 1658, SE-111 86 Stockholm, Sweden Tel. +46 8 463 54 00, fax: +46 8 463 54 01 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.nordregio.se Restructuring the State – Regional Impacts: A Comparative Nordic Perspective. Edited by Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith and Lars Olof Persson. Stockholm: Nordregio 2002 (Nordregio Report 2002:9) (Future Challenges and Institutional Preconditions for Regional Development Policy, Volume 5) ISSN 1403-2503 ISBN 91-89332-30-X Nordic co-operation takes place among the countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland. The Nordic Council is a forum for co-operation between the Nordic parliaments and governments. The Council consists of 87 parliamentarians from the Nordic countries. The Nordic Council takes policy initiatives and monitors Nordic co-operation. Founded in 1952. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a forum for co-operation between the Nordic governments. The Nordic Council of Ministers implements Nordic co-operation. The prime ministers have the overall responsibility. Its activities are co-ordinated by the Nordic ministers for co-operation, the Nordic Committee for co-operation and portfolio ministers. Founded in 1971. Stockholm, Sweden 2002 Preface Across all Nordic countries there is now an intensive debate on changing responsibilities and the division of labour between the state and the regions. The underlying problems in each country are very much the same, but the solutions suggested, implemented and experienced are sometimes different, perhaps not so much in concept as in details. The report contains the results of a project that has been pursued within the context of illuminating comparisons between the five Nordic countries in terms of: • What approaches characterize the current restructuring of state activities and what is their impact on various types of regions? • What conclusions can be drawn concerning a set of alternative future trajectories for the institutional framework of state intervention at the regional level? The report relies on existing literature and ongoing investigations in each country. The project is part of the Nordic research programme Future Challenges and Institutional Preconditions for Regional Development Policy. The programme is commissioned by The Nordic Council of Ministers / Nordic Senior Officials Committee for Regional Policy (NÄRP). A pilot phase of the programme was reported in 2000 (Nordregio Report 2000:1). This report on The impact of the restructuring of state activities on various types of regions is one of eight studies in the 2000-2002 phase of the programme. A final phase will start in 2002 and end in 2004. Nordregio wishes to thank the editors as well as the other researchers involved in this work, as well as the members of the Programme Steering Committee: Bue Nielsen (Denmark), Kari Gröhn (Finland), Kristin Nakken (Norway), Nicklas Liss-Larsson (Sweden), Kjartan Kristiansen (Faroe Islands), Bjarne Lindström (Åland Islands) and Hallgeir Aalbu (Nordregio). The volume has been edited by Kaisa Lähteenmäki-Smith and Lars Olof Persson, Nordregio and contains contributions by Paul Olav Berg, Torben Dall Schmidt, Sigurður Gudmunðsson, Valdimar Halldórsson, Merja Kokkonen, Jörg Neubauer and Stein Østbye. Keneva Kunz and Chris Smith have pursued the language check. Stockholm, October 2002 3 Contents Preface 1. Introduction ........................................................................................ 7 The strengthening of regional authority............................................. 8 Key arguments for state intervention at the regional level................. 9 The theoretical framework............................................................... 12 The focus on new public management and the deregulation of state activities .............................................................................. 14 Constraints from above – European macroeconomic policy ........... 18 2. Employment in public and state sectors – regional distribution of recent changes ................................................................................... 23 Geography of public sector employment ......................................... 23 3. Restructuring of the state sector in Nordic countries – national overviews................................................................................................ 32 Denmark: The ongoing decentralization of competences throughout the 1990s........................................................................ 32 The spatial consequences of structural changes in the Finnish state sector........................................................................................ 38 Restructuring in Iceland................................................................... 45 Restructuring of activities of the state in Norway............................ 52 State and geography in Sweden ....................................................... 62 4. Nordic R & D and the higher education sector in the 1990s ......... 74 The changing context of higher education....................................... 74 Expanding higher education in the Nordic countries....................... 76 Changing in the R & D sector.......................................................... 80 The spatial impact of policy changes............................................... 82 To conclude...................................................................................... 85 Appendicies...................................................................................... 87 5. Regional development policy............................................................ 89 Regional economic development policy in Finland......................... 89 Industrial and urban policy in Denmark........................................... 91 Norway: Growth oriented regional economic development policy................................................................................................ 93 Regional policy changes and challenges in Sweden........................ 95 5 Iceland: Increasing funding for local and regional development..... 97 6. Conclusions ........................................................................................ 98 Conclusions on the higher education sector..................................... 98 Policy for infrastructure and communications in the Nordic countries – Common characteristics .............................................. 100 Regional development policy in the Nordic countries – Commonalities and disparities ....................................................... 104 References ............................................................................................ 110 Technical Notes.................................................................................... 119 6 1. Introduction State and Geography – a Nordic comparative perspective This volume focuses on the issue of how – from a comparative historical perspective – the Nordic state now functions, posing the question, what impact the varying forms of state presence can actually have. As such, it is the regional consequences of the mix of different sectors’ practices in different countries that forms the core focus of this report. The report therefore contains the results of a project that has been pursued within the context of illuminating comparisons between the five Nordic countries in terms of: • What aspects, policies and approaches characterize the current restructuring of state activities and what is their likely impact on various types of regions? • What conclusions can be drawn concerning a set of alternative future trajectories for the institutional framework of state intervention at the regional level? Our initial approach to this overall theme is thus one of analysing regional variances and vulnerabilities. We deal with full range of regional categories, from metropolitan to peripheral. The report relies on existing literature and ongoing investigations in each country, supported by expert interviews. Until the late 1990s regional development in the Nordic countries was relatively balanced with similar dynamics visible throughout the Nordic Region. Now a number of more obvious differences among the various Nordic regimes have emerged. One can also plot quite readily the struggle between the simultaneous tendencies of centralisation and decentralisation across the region as a whole. Moreover across all Nordic countries there is now a fully-fledged debate on changing responsibilities and the division of labour between of the state and the regions. The underlying problems in each country are very much the same, but the solutions suggested, implemented and experienced are sometimes different, perhaps not so much in concept as in details. The ability of national institutions to cope with emerging problems is thus of specific interest and therefore in need of monitoring and analysis. The report is structured in the following fashion. Following on from this introduction, Chapter 2 sets
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