A "new kind" of local administrator? : - A qualitative study of local administrators in Karlstad kommun

The Swedish municipalities have always been going through some kind of changes. These changes can for example be a consequence of economic factors and/or changes in the society. Today we can se how the municipalities characterize of different kinds of co-operations in forms of collaborations, partnership and networks. What does this development mean to the local administrators? The purpose of this study is, due to the circumstances that have affected the Swedish municipalities in the twenty-first century, to investigate whether these changes have led to a new kind of local administrator. To do so, I formulated three research questions: 1. a) Which are the interviewed local administrators assignments? b) Does the interviewed local administrators participate in any kind of collaborations? 2. What kind of problem shall the interviewed local administrators solve in their work? 3. What loyalty does the interviewed local administrators embrace? Empirical materials for this study have been collected in qualitative interviews with eight local administrators in Karlstad kommun. I reached the conclusion that there is a new kind of local administrator that is characterized by their considerable freedom of action. The new kind of administrator takes initiatives and they have an extensive circle of contacts. The biggest part of this kind of local administrators work takes place in different kinds of collaborations and networks, they’re consequently dependent of other actors in their line of work