Local autonomy and the partnership principle: Collaborative governance in the European Social Fund in Sweden

Abstract

IMPACT This article analyses the democratic autonomy of local public actors in collaborative organizational arrangements within the context of the European Social Investment Fund (ESIF). The authors outline three different ways that collaborations materialize in organizational arrangements and analyse how these organizational arrangements influence a municipality’s capacity to set policy priorities and decide upon organizational matters. The study shows that autonomy varies within these partnerships depending on the degree of formalization of collaboration; the inclusion of local government actors; and the extent to which the collaborative actors are predetermined by regulation. ABSTRACT Against the backdrop of strong local self-government, this article analyses how local autonomy in Sweden has been affected by the implementation of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the ‘partnership principle’. Guided by theories on collaborative governance, the authors analyse three empirically-derived forms of organizational collaborative arrangements: top-down decision-making, bottom-up regional initiatives, and horizontal local collaboration. The article illustrates how the implementation of ESF in Swedish municipalities enables local autonomy but also limits the influence of local public actors in formal and informal decision-making processes.