Do networks matter? Network involvement and policy learning in Nordic regions

ABSTRACT

​The capacities of regions to form networks are an important feature of regional cooperation. This article assesses why Nordic regions engage in network activities and what new organizational patterns of collaboration emerge. It draws on historical data from a 2006–2008 survey of elected regional politicians from the Nordic countries. The article argues that through this process, participation in cross-border networks matters for regional learning as measured by the policy-choices of regions.

KEYWORDS:

• Regional networks
• policy learning
• Nordic countries
• Denmark
• Finland
• Norway
• Sweden

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.​

Notes

1. Much literature in the new institutionalism tradition emphasizes the path dependency of institutions and their representatives and presents new policy choices as symbolic adaptations to external expectations rather than genuine policy learning, cf. e.g. (Meyer and Rowan 1977; Brunsson and Olsen 1990; Czarniawska 2009).

2. We assume that there is no relationship between network involvements and policy choices (zero hypothesis).

3. The survey was part of a project financed by a grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers, allocated through Nordregio 2006–2008. See H. Baldersheim, A. V. Haug and M. Øgård. 2011 The Rise of the Networking Region. The Challenges of Regional Collaboration in a Globalized World. Ashgate. The present article builds on and extends analyses presented in this book, particularly those of chapters 3 and 4. We emphasize that this is not a sample survey; data collection aimed at reaching all the members of the executive boards of the respective regions and cities. The response rates varied from 58% to 26%, with around 50% being the typical rate. Analysis of data attrition found the representativeness of the data to be satisfactory (Baldersheim and Øgård 2011, 12).

4. The term ‘triple helix cooperation’ is used to denote cooperation among three societal sectors: The public sector, the business community as well as the educational establishment at the regional, national, and multinational levels. Etzkowitz (2008)​ distinguishes four dimensions to the development of the triple helix model: internal transformation within each of the helices; influence of one helix upon another; creation of a new overlay of institutional structures from the interaction among the three helices and a recursive effect of these entities, both on the spirals from which they emerge and on the larger society.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Harald Baldersheim

Harald Baldersheim is Professor (emeritus) in Political Science at the University of Oslo focusing on local democracy and regional governance. His recent publications include The Governance of Small States in Turbulent Times. The Exemplary Cases of Norway and Slovakia (Opladen: Budrich, coedited with J. Bátora, 2012).

Morten Øgård

Morten Øgård is Professor in Political Science at the University of Agder specializing regional governance and interregional relations. He has coedited The Rise of the Networking Region. The Challenges of Regional Collaboration in a Globalized World (with H. Baldersheim and A.V. Haug; Farnham: Ashgate, 2011) and Governance in Turbulent Times (with C. Ansell and J. Trondal; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).