ST-400 Political Systems and Governance

Recent years have witnessed a shift in the role of the public sector. Increasing diversity, complexity and dynamics in society has made governing by single-unit government institutions and hierarchy - what can be called "government" - less efficient. Thus, emphasis shifts towards interaction between diverse actors and networked organizational forms of governance. As the new governance models represent a dispersion of power and a weakening of traditional political-administrative power-centers, it becomes important to understand how these adapt to the new emerging policy networks, how the networks function and how they change.

The aim of this course is to offer a systematic introduction to the concept of governance and provide a critical discussion of important elements and perspectives. At the center of attention are the questions of governance capacity, efficiency and accountability.  

The course is organized in three parts. The first part examines the general concept of governance and governing. The focus is on interaction between more or less autonomous actors, how such interactions can be analyzed and what forms such interaction may take. Different types of governance (first order, second order and meta) are also discussed. The second part focus on the network properties of many governance structures, and the challenges associated with governing through such structures. The last part will focus on how contemporary governance is organized and the development of multilevel government, especially interaction between supra-national and national levels of government. Finally, a discussion on the concept of governability will sum up the course.

• understand the multifaceted aspects of governance, and how this concept encompasses traditional view on governing
• analyze the different aspects of governance, both the level of governance, the tools of governance as well as the modes of governance
• critically assess different policy networks, how they work, and what challenges they pose for democratic accountability
• evaluate the role of leadership in a network, both possibilities and limitations
• understand and critically assess different types of multilevel governance, especially within the context of the European Union

• the basic theories of political system development and democratic governance
• how political systems adapt to changing environments
• what challenges democratic political systems are facing in a time of globalisation

Lectures and seminars/discussion seminars.

Jan Erik Grindheim

Dag Ingvar Jacobsen

Jan Thorsvik