2022
Seminar with Thomas Schillemans
Time and place: Nov. 24, 2022 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM, Georg Sverdrups hus, Grupperom 7
Title: Negativity bias and democratic accountability.
Thomas Schillemans is Professor in Accountability, Behavior and Governance at Utrecht University School of Governance.
Seminar with Jens Jungblut
Time and place: Nov. 10, 2022 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM, Nydalen, 512
Title: Different governments, similar policies? Analyzing seven decades of Norwegian government agendas as presented in executive speeches.
Jens Jungblut is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science.
Seminar with Stéphanie Verlinden, University of Antwerp
Time and place: Sep. 22, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen
Title: Intense change – Catalyzing or sabotaging organizational adaptability? The impact of intense change on decision-making in public organizations.
Stéphanie Verlinden is a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and guest researcher at the Department of Political Science.
Seminar with Martin Maltais, Université du Québec à Rimouski
Time and place: Sep. 1, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen, Seminarrom 1
Title: Universities policy and financing in Québec.
Martin Maltais is professor on finances and educational policy at Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR-Lévis).
Seminar with Helge Renå
Time and place: June 2, 2022 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM, Nydalen
Title: The political dynamics of building crisis response capacities. A longitudinal case study of the Norwegian police 2001-2021.
Helge Renå is researcher at the University of Bergen.
Seminar with Peter Munk Christiansen, Aarhus University
Time and place: Apr. 7, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Georg Sverdrups hus: Grupperom 7
Title: Closed Shudders: Elite Circulation in Denmark.
Peter Munk Christiansen is Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.
Seminar with Irja Vormedal, Fridtjof Nansen Institute
Time and place: Mar. 18, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen
Title: Business and Climate Policy Development: When Does Opposition Become Support?
Irja Vormedal is Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
Seminar with Mads Thau, Institute for Social Research
Time and place: Mar. 4, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen
Title: How Public Service Users React to Bureaucratic Scandals: Evidence from a Real-World Embezzlement Case.
Mads Thau is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Research (ISF).
Seminar with Sicheng Chen, Tsinghua University
Time and place: Feb. 18, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Written Directives and Chinese Ministerial Tenure: A New Measurement for Political Performance?
Sicheng Cheng is associate professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China.
Seminar with Yves Steinebach, LMU Munich
Time and place: Feb. 4, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Title: Is the state we want, the state we can have? Policy ambition and implementation capacities in the long run.
Yves Steinebach is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, LMU Munich. His research focuses on comparative public policy and administration, climate and environmental policy, social policy, and international organisations.
Seminar with Tom Christensen
Time and place: Jan. 21, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Title: The changing politics of vaccines – the main principles and the challenges of allocation in practice.
Tom Christensen is professor (emeritus) at the Department of Political Science at UiO.
2021
Seminar with Tom Christensen
Time and place: Jan. 21, 2022 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Title: The changing politics of vaccines – the main principles and the challenges of allocation in practice.
Tom Christensen is professor (emeritus) at the Department of Political Science at UiO.
Seminar with Mareike zum Felde (University of Bremen)
Time and place: Dec. 3, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Mareike zum Felde is a PhD candidate at the University of Bremen (Germany) and guest researcher at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Seminar with Amalie Trangbæk (Aarhus University)
Time and place: Nov. 26, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Life at the top - Understanding top bureaucrats’ roles as the link between politics and administration.
Amalie Trangbæk is a PhD Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark.
Seminar with Philipp Trein (University of Lausanne)
Time and place: Nov. 12, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Policy Integration, Institutional Change and the Governance of Complex Problems.
Philipp Trein is Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Lausanne and a Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley.
Seminar with Jostein Askim
Time and place: Oct. 29, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Title: Student Financing for Social Equity in Norway, 1947–2020.
Jostein Askim is professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo. He will present a draft chapter to be published in an edited volume on policy successes in Scandinavia.
Seminar with Tobias Bach
Time and place: Oct. 15, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Nydalen & Zoom
Title: Politics and administrative turnover in highly meritocratic systems.
Tobias Bach is professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo. He will present a co-authored paper with Jostein Askim (University of Oslo) and Jørgen Grønnegård Christensen (Aarhus University) on the turnover of the most senior officials, the permanent secretaries, in Denmark and Norway from 1970-2020. The paper asks whether political events affect administrative turnover, and whether the connection between political events and administrative turnover is mediated by the presence (Norway) or absence (Denmark) of politically appointed ministerial advisors.
Seminar with Ben Ansell and Johannes Lindvall
Time and place: June 11, 2021 10:15 AM – 11:30 AM, Zoom
Title: Inward Conquest: The Political Origins of Modern Public Services.
Ben W. Ansell (University of Oxford) and Johannes Lindvall (Lunds Universitet) will present their book "Inward Conquest: The Political Origins of Modern Public Services" (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
This seminar is jointly organized by the research groups PBO and CIR.
PBO-seminar with Taran Thune (TIK)
Time and place: May 28, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Research use and research impact in public administration and policy: Empirical studies of Norwegian government employees.
Taran Thune is professor at TIK - Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture at the University of Oslo. She will present results from a project on the use of research by officials in ministries and agencies in Norway.
PBO-seminar with Niva Golan-Nadir
Time and place: Apr. 30, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Unpopular policies leading to the co-production of public services: The case of public transportation in Israel.
Niva Golan-Nadir holds a PhD from the University of Haifa and is currently teaching faculty at the IDC Herzliya and the Open University of Israel. Her research focuses on street level bureaucracy and state-religion relations, amongst others. Niva will present a paper entitled "Unpopular policies leading to the co-production of public services: The case of public transportation in Israel".
PBO-seminar with Åge Johnsen (OsloMet)
Time and place: Mar. 19, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Åge Johnsen will present a paper on "Change management in large-scale public sector organizational change projects: Strategies for change and commitment to change in a municipal merger reform".
Åge Johnsen is Professor at Oslo Business School, OsloMet.
Seminar with Vilde Hernes
Time and place: Feb. 19, 2021 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Vilde Hernes will present a chapter entitled "National ministerial bureaucracy" for a forthcoming Encyclopedia of EU Public Policy.
Vilde Hernes is Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, OsloMet.
2020
Seminar with Jonas Lund-Tønnesen
Time and place: Dec. 11, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Regulating emerging technology in times of crisis
Jonas Lund-Tønnesen is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science.
The Politicization of Bureaucracy - SOG 2020 digital workshop
Time and place: Dec. 4, 2020 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Zoom
SOG 2020 digital workshop - The Politicization of Bureaucracy: concepts, trends, causes, and consequences.
Organizers: SOG in collaboration with University of Oslo, Department of Political Science. SOG is the International Political Science Association's Research Committee on Structure and Organization of Government (RC 27).
Format: Short presentations and prepared comments (30 mins per paper). We encourage short draft papers down to 2000 words/5 pages. Full papers are also welcome, as long as they are not accepted for publication.
Participation deadline: Please register and upload your (short) paper by November 23. All paper givers will be asked to prepare comments for one paper. Participation will be confirmed, and time schedule will be distributed by November 27.
We welcome empirical and conceptual/theoretical papers relating to any of the following themes of the meeting. Papers covering developing countries are particularly welcome.
(1) Concepts: We invite papers addressing politicization from a conceptual perspective. In particular, we encourage contributions addressing the overwhelmingly negative connotation of politicization. What exactly makes politicization “bad” and does this apply to all types of politicization? What are the contextual conditions under which different types of politicization have positive or negative consequences?
(2) Trends: We also invite papers addressing the (perceived) increase in politicization, linked to different aspects that have been discussed as indications of politicization, including the growth of ministerial adviser positions; a stronger influence of executive politicians on personnel decisions in the civil service (perhaps most visible in so-called “illiberal democracies”); structural changes in government organizations; the centralization and professionalization of government communication; or the ignorance and manipulation of civil service advice. What do we know empirically about those trends, are they uniform across countries, and how useful is the “politicization” umbrella to address these phenomena?
(3) Causes: We welcome paper that elaborate on the drivers of politicization. According to various observers, increasing levels of politicization result from increased media attention (24/7, social media), more complex policy problems, increasing political volatility, political polarization, new government constellations, and increased fragmentation and differentiation of the public sector. We welcome empirical papers that elaborate and test those relationships. Another prominent line of research studies variation in politicization within countries, for instance across organizations or policy sector, and we welcome elaborating on within-country variation in politicization.
(4) Consequences: A growing body of research shows that politicization has problematic consequences, for instance in terms of administrative performance, corrupt behavior, or policy substance. Most of the literature uses macro-level comparisons or is confined to the US context. We invite contributions addressing politicization effects at various levels of analysis, such as countries, organizations, and individuals (public officials, civil servants).
Seminar with António Tavares, University of Minho
Time and place: Nov. 26, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Assessing the Intensity of Cooperation: A Study of Joint Delegation of Municipal Functions to Inter-Municipal Associations
António Tavares is associate professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Minho, Portugal.
Seminar with Marius Busemeyer, University of Konstanz
Time and place: Nov. 17, 2020 10:00 AM – 11:15 AM, Zoom
Title: A loud but noisy signal? Public opinion and the politics of education reform in Western Europe
Marius Busemeyer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Konstanz, Germany.
This is a joint research seminar with CIR.
Seminar with Mads Thau, VIVE
Time and place: Nov. 5, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, 847
Title: The Economic Effects of Contracting Out Administrative Services
Mads Thau is researcher at VIVE VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research and guest researcher at the Department of Political Science.
Seminar with Jan Erling Klausen, Signy Irene Vabo, and Marte Winsvold
Time and place: Oct. 23, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, 847, Eilert Sundts hus and Zoom
Title: Procedural or realist norms for boosting citizen participation?
Jan Erling Klausen (University of Oslo), Signy Irene Vabo (University of Oslo), and Marte Winsvold (Institute for Social Research)
Seminar with Elin Boasson and Solveig Aamodt
Time and place: Oct. 8, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, 847
Title: The rise of a diplomatic logic in climate politics: EU reversal and the future of climate negotiations
Solveig Aamodt, Researcher, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, and Senior Researcher, CICERO Center for International Climate Research
Elin Lerum Boasson, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Oslo
Seminar with Leif Kårtvedt
Time and place: Sep. 24, 2020 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM, 847, Eilert Sundts hus
Title: Agencies everywhere, coordination nowhere? Exploring the effects of agencification on administrative coordination
Leif Erlend Kårtvedt is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science.
Seminar with Jens Blom-Hansen (Aarhus University)
Time and place: June 16, 2020 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Title: Jens Blom-Hansen is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Seminar with Stine Hesstvedt (ARENA)
Time and place: May 28, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: Controlling the experts: A mixed methods study of political control with advisory commissions in Norway (co-authored with Johan Christensen, Leiden University)
Stine Hesstvedt is a PhD candidate at ARENA Centre for European Studies.
Seminar with Kaja Gadowska (Jagiellonian University)
Time and place: May 7, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Title: Kaja Gadowska is Head of the Department of the Public Sphere at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Seminar with Rik Peeters (CIDE)
Time and place: May 7, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Zoom
Title: The Agency of Algorithms: Human-Algorithm Interactions in Automated Decision-Making
Rik Peeters is a research professor at the public administration division of the Centre for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE, Mexico City).
Canceled: Seminar with Åge Johnsen (OsloMet)
Time and place: Apr. 2, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Åge Johnsen er professor i offentlig politikk ved OsloMet.
Canceled: Seminar with Harald Baldersheim
Time and place: Mar. 19, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Title: Chasing the creative class: What works, and what doesn’t? Recruitment strategies in Norwegian local government
Harald Baldersheim is Professor (emeritus) at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Seminar with Vilde Hernes and Morten Egeberg
Time and place: Feb. 27, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Room 847, Eilert Sundt
Title: Introducing the Dataset on Immigrant Integration Governance (DIIG)
Vilde Hernes is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Title: Policy Design or Organizational Design: On the Relevance of the Study of Public Policy and Administration (PPA)
Morten Egeberg is professor (emeritus) at the Department of Political Science and ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo.
Seminar with Lars H. Gulbrandsen (FNI)
Time and place: Feb. 6, 2020 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Title: Political decisions gone with the wind? Windpower politics and administration in Norway
Lars H. Gulbrandsen is Deputy Director and Research Director Climate and Energy at Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Oslo.
2019
Seminar with Jens Jungblut and Leif Kårtvedt
Time and place: Dec. 19, 2019 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM, Eilert Sundts hus, room 830
Jens Jungblut: From Research to Practice? The Policy-Advisory Roles of German Political Scientists
Leif Kårtvedt: Specialization and how it affects coordination capacity in government: the case of local governments in Norway
Seminar with Torbjørg Jevnaker
Time and place: Nov. 28, 2019 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM, Eilert Sundts hus, room 830
Title: EU agencies and responsiveness: Internal culture or environmental legitimation?
Seminar with Richard Shaw (Massey University, New Zealand)
Time and place: Nov. 18, 2019 2:15 PM – 3:45 PM, Eilert Sundts hus, room 847
Title: 'From ménage a trois back to pas de deux? Political advisers, civil servants and the contest of policy ideas'
Seminar with Karl Bjurstrøm
Time and place: Oct. 31, 2019 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM, Eilert Sundts hus, room 830
Title: Computer-assisted text analysis: An application on quasi-contractual ministry-agency relationships
Seminar with Abiha Zahra (KU Leuven)
Time and place: Sep. 27, 2019 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM, Room 830, Eilert Sundt
Title: The Structural Anatomy of the Pakistani State Organizations