"The Master of the House"—Agencies in Municipal Service Provision: Balancing Autonomy and Accountability. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Andersen, Ole Johan; Torsteinsen, Harald
• Is Part Of: Administration & society. Volume 49:Number 5(2017)
• Page Start: 730
• Page End: 752
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: local government reform -- agency model -- balancing autonomy and accountability -- arm's length structures in the public sector; Public administration -- Periodicals; 351
• DOI: 10.1177/0095399714555749
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0095-3997

Abstract

The article raises the question of to what extent municipalities adopting reforms of decentralization are able to find a stable balance between strategic management and operational autonomy. We performed a case study in a Norwegian municipality with more than 10 years of experience in practicing the agency model characterized by a radical disaggregation and autonomization of functions. Our findings suggest that finding a stable balance seems hard to obtain. Instead, there is a continuous process of "negotiation" going on between the two levels. The risk of sliding back to hierarchy and central rule seems to be more or less permanent.