Aalborg Universitet Partnership Project the Case of Denmark

Aalborg Universitet Partnership Project The Case of Denmark Halkier, Henrik; Flockhart, John Evan Publication date: 2002 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA): Halkier, H., & Flockhart, J. E. (2002). Partnership Project: The Case of Denmark. European Research Unit, Aalborg University. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. ? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: September 26, 2021 European Studies Series of Occasional Papers, no. 31/2002 European Research Unit, Aalborg University Partnership Project The Case of Denmark Henrik Halkier & John Evan Flockhart European Research Unit, 2002 ISSN 0906-0308 European Studies is a series featuring publications on European issues (cultural, communicative, economic, political), in a historical, contemporary and cross-cultural perspective. Furthermore, the series will comprise publications focussing on matters of interest to the history, structure and current development of the European community. European Studies is published by the European Research Unit in collaboration with the Institute for History, International and Social Studies at Aalborg University, Denmark. Requests and orders for issues can be made to the following address: European Research Unit Aalborg University Fibigerstraede 2 DK-9220 Aalborg O Denmark Phone: +45 96 35 71 95 Fax: +45 98 15 11 26 Email: [email protected] Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..…1 1. The National Context ……………………………………………………………….2 Institutions and Partnership 1: European Programmes…………………………………….3 Institutions and Partnership 2: Sub-national Economic Development Initiatives…………..5 Institutions and Partnership 3: National Programmes……………………………………...7 Regional Development in Denmark and the Three Case Study Regions…………………..10 2. Regional Case Study: North Jutland……..……………………………………14 The Regional Institutional Setting………………………………………………………….14 Inclusiveness in the Policy Process………………………………………………………...17 Accountability in the Policy Process……………………………………………………….20 Coherence in the Policy Process…………………………………………………………...21 In Brief: Partnership in North Jutland……………………………………………………..23 3. Regional Case Study: Storstrøm……………….……………………………….24 The Regional Institutional Setting………………………………………………………….24 Inclusiveness in the Policy Process………………………………………………………...26 Accountability in the Policy Process…………………….…………………………………28 Coherence in the Policy Process…………………………………………………………...29 In Brief: Partnership in Storstrøm……………………………………………………...….30 4. Regional Case Study: Vejle………………………………………...…………….31 The Regional Institutional Setting………………………………………………………….31 Inclusiveness in the Policy Process………………………………………………………...33 Accountability in the Policy Process……………………………………………………….35 Coherence in the Policy Process………………………………………………………...…36 In Brief: Partnership in Vejle………………………………………………………………36 i 5. Comparative Analysis……………………………………………………………..37 6. References…………………………………………………………………………....42 Literature and documentary sources…………………………………………….…………42 Interviews……………………………………………………………….………………….45 7. Abbreviations………………………………………………………………………..47 ii Introduction This working paper reports the findings of three case studies undertaken as part of a comparative Nordic project on partnership and regional policy, using a common conceptual framework and research methodology. The project has been s sponsored by Nordregio in Stockholm who will also publish the comparative Nordic report, including a substantial theoretical chapter on partnership, governance and regional development, four in-depth country studies and an extensive concluding comparative analysis. By publishing the Danish country study as a separate working paper, we hope to draw attention to important developments in the governance of regional policy which have taken place from the 1990s onwards and which would appear to redraw the traditional division of labour between public and private actors in this particular policy area. Comments are, as ever, more than welcome and the authors can be contacted at Aalborg University’s Department of History, International and Social Studies by accessing the website www.humsamf.auc.dk. The text falls in three parts and starts out by providing an outline of regional policy in Denmark with particular emphasis on partnership-type organisational forms, and also gives a brief introduction to the three regions selected for closer scrutiny. Then follows the by far longest section which for each of the three case study regions presents the overall institutional setting with regard to regional policy and then examines key aspects of partnership practice under the headings of inclusiveness, accountability and coherence. Finally a concluding section undertakes a detailed comparison of the three case studies and places these in the broader perspective of regional economic management in Denmark and the role of partnership in regional policy in general. In terms of methodology the sections on Danish regional policy draws previous research and the existing literature in the area, whereas the case studies draws on field work undertaken in 2001, involving an extensive series of interviews with key actors supplemented by printed and not least web-based documentary sources produced by development agencies and other public bodies. 1 1. The National Context In order to provide a background for the three case studies of partnerships in regional development in Denmark, this section gives an outline of the national setting. First the changing nature of regional policy is charted, then the current institutional set-up and its possible implications for partnership arrangements are laid out, and finally the relative position of the three regions within the spatial division of labour in Denmark is explored, focusing in particular on the presence of public and private resources of importance from a regional development perspective. Since the beginning of the 1990s the aims and methods of Danish regional policy have changed dramatically.1 In the 1960s central government began to operate financial incentives programmes designed to redistribute economic activity within the country by making it more attractive to invest in designated ‘problem regions’ with high levels of unemployment and a limited degree of industrialisation. However, as of January 1991 all central government incentive schemes were terminated, and since then the main components of spatial economic policy have been a host of regional and local initiatives supplemented by European Structural Funds. Policies tend to focus strongly on improving the competitiveness of firms within the region, and as sub-national initiatives in economic development can be found everywhere, the preferential treatment traditionally accorded to ‘problem regions’ has been eroded. In many ways it could argued that Denmark is an extreme example of more general trends in European regional policy, namely the decreasing role of national policy programmes of reactive and redistributive policies in favour of ‘problem regions’ and the increasing importance of a new paradigm in which regional policy involves many tiers of government in proactive intervention aimed at preventing labour market problems such as high levels of unemployment by making indigenous firms better equipped to operate in an increasingly competitive economic environment.2 The current configuration of regional policy is in other words fairly new, having only been in operation for a decade, and hence it is hardly surprising that the institutional arrangements have continued to evolve through the 1990s. The pre-1991 situation reflected the centralised nature of traditional regional policy in that both decisions on area 1 Halkier 2001a. 2 Halkier et al. 1998. 2 designation and individual grant applications were taken on the national level by central government with only very limited input from regional advisory committees.3 At the turn of the century the new institutional setting has been shaped by three tiers of government which are now major actors in Danish regional policy, and the outcome is clearly different from the pre-1991 situation in a number of respects: C the number of actors have increased, eliminating the effective monopoly of central government on regional policy and establishing a multi-tiered policy network with extensive collaboration between public actors along horizontal and vertical lines, C on balance, regional policy has begun to operate in a much more decentralised manner, with subnational actors having a significant input into most aspects of the design and implementation of regional development programmes and projects, and C non-government actors have become increasingly involved in various

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