Local governments on an equal footing? Policy coordination between Swedish regions and municipalities in regional development policy

Abstract

This study focuses on challenges linked to policy coordination between the first and second tiers of local government. In most European countries today, the two levels are treated as local governments on ‘an equal footing’, but increasing expectations on the regions to take on a more leading role vis-à-vis the municipalities imply a more vertical relation. The aim of this study is to, through interviews with 40 leading municipal and regional representatives, analyse how Swedish municipalities and regions manage coordination challenges in regional development policy. The result indicates that the idea of governance through policy coordination does not always work smoothly in this setting. What is perceived as an important problem from a regional perspective is not necessarily perceived as an important problem from a municipal perspective, and vice versa. The size of the regions as well as institutional structures also affects the perceived expedience of the collaboration meetings.