Karin Fossheim

• Fossheim, Karin & Andersen, Jardar (2022). The consequences of institutional design on collaborative arrangements’ power to influence urban freight policymaking. Case Studies on Transport Policy. ISSN 2213-624X. doi: 10.1016/j.cstp.2022.04.017. Show summary

  Collaborative governance is becoming increasingly important as a mode of urban freight policymaking. Bringing together actors from private and public sectors in forums makes it possible to move beyond general discussions of delivery challenges to the innovation of joint solutions and lasting improvements to the freight transport system. For such cross-sector collaborations to function, participants must experience a sense of power to influence policy. The institutional design, i.e., the inclusiveness of the collaboration and the interdependence between the participants, may condition this possibility. Consequently, this article investigates how the institutional design of collaborative arrangements associated with urban freight affects participants’ perceptions of power to influence policymaking. We interviewed 37 participants in three different collaborations in Oslo, Norway. The results indicate that institutional design affects participants’ perceptions of power to influence policymaking. Inclusive collaborations, in which participants are not interdependent, provide participants with the most power to influence policy, rather than exclusive collaborations, in which participants are highly interdependent.

• Fossheim, Karin (2022). How can non-elected representatives secure democratic representation? Policy & Politics. ISSN 0305-5736. 50(2), p. 243–260. doi: 10.1332/030557321X16371011677734. Show summary

  Research on the democratic legitimacy of non-elected actors influencing policy while acting as representatives is often lacking in governance literature, despite being increasingly relevant worldwide. Recent theories of representation argue that there are non-electoral mechanisms to appoint such non-elected representatives and hold them responsible for their actions. Consequently, democratic non-electoral representation can be achieved. Through empirical analysis, this article explores democratic non-electoral representation in governance networks by comparing how non-elected representatives, their constituents and the decision-making audience understand the outcome of representation to benefit the constituency, authorisation and accountability. The research findings conclude that all three groups mostly share the understanding of democratic non-electoral representation as ongoing interactions between representatives and constituents, multiple (if any) organisational and discursive sources of authorisation and deliberative aspects of accountability. All of these are non-electoral mechanisms that secure democratic representation. These findings make an important contribution to the literature on non-electoral representation in policymaking.

• Fossheim, Karin (2021). The Responsibility of an Audience: Assessing the Legitimacy of Non-elected Representatives in Governance Networks. Representation. ISSN 0034-4893. p. 1–17. doi: 10.1080/00344893.2021.1933150. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Non-elected actors in governance networks are legitimate representatives when the constituency accepts their claims of representation. However, not all constituents have the resources to approve or oppose this representation. Consequently, I argue that the audience, often the decision-making authority, which enables non-elected actors to act as representatives has a responsibility to consider their legitimacy. Drawing on seven business and urban development networks in Norway, this article explores how the decision-making authority considers credibility, qualifications and connectedness to legitimise non-elected representatives in governance networks. Through interviews with civil servants and politicians organising and participating in the network, relevant documents and observations, this article demonstrates that the decision-making authority legitimises non-elected representatives based on credibility and qualifications rather than connectedness with the constituency. The decision-making authority believes that claims grounded in specialist expertise, self-representation and shared experiences with the constituency legitimise non-elected representatives. Similarly, truthful representatives are considered legitimate. Finally, the decision-making authority is divided with regards to how the interactive process between the non-elected representative and the constituency legitimises the content of the representation.

• Bjørgen, Astrid ; Fossheim, Karin & Macharis, Cathy (2021). How to build stakeholder participation in collaborative urban freight planning. Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning. ISSN 0264-2751. 112. doi: 10.1016/j.cities.2021.103149. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Although freight issues are often the subject of controversy within urban communities, urban freight stake-holders rarely participate in local planning processes. This paper studies how different criteria to ensure actor participation in collaborative processes are practised in urban freight planning in seven Norwegian cities. The authors link different criteria of actor participation to Arnstein’s “ladder of citizen participation”, and study if the collaborative urban freight arenas provide participants with enough power to affect the outcome of improved planning process for urban freight. Participatory observation of collaborative arenas in Norwegian cities, com-bined with interviews with participating actors, revealed that knowledge and consensus building allowed stakeholders to reach the fifth step on the ladder of participation. The findings suggest that city characteristics influenced what criteria were most important. One important finding was the need to introduce a tenth criterion ‘political and planning anchorage’, which seemed particularly important for private stakeholders’ participation in collaborative processes. This finding may be of value to local authorities striving to enhance stakeholder participation and include both private and public stakeholder concerns in urban freight planning.

• Fossheim, Karin (2020). Local State-Society Relations in Norway. In Teles, Filipe; Gendzwill, Adam; Stanus, Cristina & Heinelt, Hubert (Ed.), Close Ties in European Local Governance : Linking Local State and Society. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 978-3-030-44794-6. p. 275–288. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-44794-6_19.
• Ørving, Tale & Fossheim, Karin (2019). 11 - Public sector facilitation of cargo bike operations to improve city logistics. In Coppola, Pierluigi & Esztergár-Kiss, Domokos (Ed.), Autonomous Vehicles and Future Mobility. Elsevier. ISSN 9780128176962. p. 141–154. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-817696-2.00011-1.
• Fossheim, Karin & Andersen, Jardar (2017). Plan for sustainable urban logistics – comparing between Scandinavian and UK practices. European Transport Research Review. ISSN 1867-0717. 9(52). doi: 10.1007/s12544-017-0270-8. Full text in Research Archive

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• Bjørgen, Astrid ; Fossheim, Karin & Macharis, Cathy (2018). Criteria for successful stakeholder participation in collaborative urban mobility planning.

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