Reform of the employment and welfare administrations — the challenges of co-coordinating diverse public organizations

Abstract

This article addresses one of the most comprehensive structural reforms in recent Norwegian administrative history: a merger of the employment and national insurance administrations, combined with more formal collaboration with the local government social services administration. The reform can be seen as a ' whole-of-government' initiative intended to increase the cocoordinative capacity of government to address `wicked problems' cutting across existing policy areas and government levels in a multi-level governance system. This article examines the following questions: First, what characterizes the organizational thinking related to this reform? Second, how can we understand the reform process in terms of a transformative perspective combining instrumental, cultural and environmental features? Third, what are the potential effects and implications of the new structure for political control and institutional autonomy, for relations between central and local administrations, and for the main goals stated? The theory base for the analyses is a transformative approach.