Soten "neljäs tuotantokausi"

Abstract

A central political goal of Juha Sipilä’s government was to implement comprehensive reform concerning health and social services. In this article we study how leaders of change, whose task it was to prepare and implement the reform together with regional institutions, experienced the political process aimed to prepare and implement the reform. Key theoretical concepts discussed herein are different models of democracy, dialogue and trust. Our empirical data consists of 17 interviews with the leaders of change. The key focus is on interaction and trust at the interface of politics and the public authorities involved in the implementation process. According to our results political guidance and power replaced trust at the interface of political and public authorities. As a result, criticism of the leaders of change toward the problems of reform was not sought, and thus the political decision-making process was characterized by a lack of trust.