I avhandlingen diskuteras framväxten av den rationalistiska styrmodell - resultatstyrning - som i dag är tänkt att tillämpas i staten. Dels diskuteras denna politiska institutions historiska närvaro i staten. Den spåras tillbaka till den programbudgeteringen. Institutionen har visserligen förändrats under de nära fyrtio år som förflutit sedan programbudgeteringen introducerades i staten. Förändringarna har dock främst gällt tillämpningen av olika metoder och tekniker. Vad gäller tillkomsten av nya metoder och tekniker har stabiliteten varit betydligt större. Och beträffande de mer grundläggande idé- och tankemönster som konstituerar institutionen, och tillika dess grundläggande målsättningar, påvisar undersökningen mycket stor stabilitet. I avhandlingen görs också ett försök att förklara styrmodellens beständighet. Frågan aktualiseras av att lärandeprocessen har haltat i flera avseenden. Erfarenheter som vunnits i tidigare skeden av processen inte har utnyttjats i senare skeden, konkreta problem som iakttagits i utvärderingar har bara i begränsad utsträckning diskuterats och relaterats till föreslagna lösningar och resultat från försöksverksamheter har ofta inte inväntats. Kritiska diskussioner som pågått i de ansvariga aktörernas omvärld har också haft svårt att få genomslag. Händelseutvecklingen förklaras utifrån ett historisk-institutionellt perspektiv och olika teorier om byråkratins makt. Det görs gällande att olika initiala beslut som fattades kring 1960 skapade olika självförstärkande krafter, som kom att verka stabiliserande på den studerade institutionen. Tre sådana krafter diskuteras: För det första hävdas att besluten gav ansvariga organisationer, och personer inom dessa organisationer, incitament och möjligheter att vidmakthålla institutionen; det har legat i deras (egen)intresse att bevara och utveckla den. Genom att de tidigt fick starka positioner har de också kunnat verka för detta. Genom att organisera verksamhet och personer och genom att kontrollera information har aktörerna sett till att behålla kontrollen över institutionen. För det andra hävdas att utvecklingsarbetet under långa perioder, och som en följd av olika initiala beslut, har letts av små och sluta grupperingar bestående av personer från ett fåtal organisationer (främst budgetavdelningen, RRV och Statskontoret). Tendenser till grupptänkande har uppstått. Genom att främst diskutera internt sinsemellan, och genom att skärma av källor som hade kunnat ge information om alternativa perspektiv och handlingsalternativ, har personerna inom dessa grupperingar blivit alltmer övertygade om det riktiga i att bygga vidare på den studerade institutionen. För det tredje hävdas att en särskild profession i ett tidigt skede av processen, och som en följd av olika initiala beslut, tog ett fast grepp om händelseutvecklingen. Institutionen kom från början att kläs i en ekonomiteoretisk språkdräkt, som gjorde att en viss typ av experter blev särskilt efterfrågade inom ansvariga organisationer, och även i statsförvaltningen i övrigt. Ekonomiadministrationen kom på detta sätt successivt att byggas ut, med följden att det ekonomiadministrativa språkbruket fick ett än fastare och än vidare fotfäste i statförvaltningen, vilket i sin tur ytterligare stärkte ekonomiprofessionens grepp om utvecklingen. Dominansen av en särskild profession har försvårat nytänkande och medfört att samma lösningar tenderat att återkomma. / The book discusses the origin and development of management by results in Swedish state administration. The historical presence and stability of this political institution is analysed. It is argued that it can be traced to program budgeting, which was introduced in the early 60s, and that the institution has been marked by a high degree of stability. An attempt is made to explain the constancy of the steering model. The question is brought to the fore by the fact that the learning process has failed in several respects. The course of events is explained from a historical-institutional perspective and different theories of bureaucratic power. It is asserted that different initial decisions made in connection to the introduction of PB created different positive feedbacks, which were to have stabilizing effects on the institution.

The aim of this paper is to study the course of events that led up to the 2021 legislation which allows Russian president Vladimir Putin to continue his presidential term until 2036. Based on the theoretic framework of historic institutionalism, the paper uses path dependence as the tool of analysis for the study. Using said tool, the paper aims to contribute to contemporary research on autocratization and provide new explanatory factors on what autocratization processes might look like. As such, the overall aim of the paper is to, with the aid of historical institutionalism and path dependence, explain the how’s and why’s in the autocratization process in Russia. By combining said analytic tool with a textual analysis methodology, the study finds distinct signs of path dependence during the time period studied.

Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att undersöka utvecklingen av kvalitetssystem i hälso- och sjukvården ur ett historiskt-institutionellt perspektiv utifrån fallstudier och konceptuella analyser. Särskilt analyseras implikationer av utvecklingen med avseende på relationen mellan den medicinska professionen och det politiskt administrativa systemet samt konsekvenser för den politiska styrningen av sjukvården. Studien visar att medicinska kvalitetssystem och därmed även den medicinska professionen bäddats in i den politiska styrningen i takt med att ambitionerna mot en offentlig kunskapsstyrning tilltagit. Den visar även att hälso- och sjukvårdens kvalitetsregister i olika faser av sin utveckling har påverkats av politiska ideologier, managementidéer och idéer om transparens. Öppna jämförelser som en oavsiktlig konsekvens av kvalitetsregisteranvändningen förstärker dessutom tendensen mot en offentlig kunskapsstyrning. Av studien framgår också att den offentliga kunskapsstyrningen utmanar föreställningen om demokratiidealet om upplyst förståelse. Den ökade fokuseringen på kunskapsstyrning inom hälso- och sjukvården gör det relevant att ställa frågan vem som styr vem i svensk hälso- och sjukvård, vilket i sig är en fråga om demokrati och legitimitet. / The aim with this thesis is to describe the quality development in Swedish healthcare from an institutional perspective, analyse implications of the development concerning the relationship between the medical profession and the public administrative system and discuss consequences for political direction and welfare organization. The study is based on four case studies and one conceptual analysis. The main conclusion is that the medical quality systems have been imbedded in the political management alongside the development towards a public knowledge management. The analysis has more specifically uncovered that quality registries in healthcare have been influenced by political ideologies, management ideas and ideas of transparency. It is also clear that open comparisons were an ‘unintended consequence’ of the quality registry development that has enhanced the development towards a public knowledge management. The analysis also shows that public knowledge management challenges the ideal of democratic enlightened understanding. The development of public knowledge management in the healthcare sector raises the question of who is governing whom in Swedish healthcare.

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Union (EU) is one of the oldest fields of cooperation within the European Union. During the past decades the different Commissioners have made several proposals about changes in the CAP and many of them have not been passed but renegotiated. The present Commission has however published a report in 2011, which emphasizes that the CAP has three alternative ways to go in the future. This study aims to predict which one of these three alternative ways it is most likely that the CAP will take according to the historical institutionalist theory. When to be able to predict this text analysis is used. The analysis tools of the study are collected from the theory, which focuses on the conceptions: critical juncture, feedback effects, path dependency and sequencing. These tools as well as the theory are applied on the empirical material, which mainly consists of books about the earlier reforms and proposals from the Commission, academical journals and some reports. The analysis shows that the Luxembourg compromise can be seen as a critical juncture in the history of the CAP and this led to a path dependency, which is characterized by a decision-making procedure by consensus between the political institutions in the EU. The analysis also shows that most of the reforms regarding the CAP, are made with some sort of compromise or consensus (the Delors I budgetary package, the Mac Sharry reforms and so on). Therefore the conclusion of the study is that, from an historical institutionalist perspective, it is more or less possible for the CAP to go with any of the alternative ways that the Commission points out in the report. It is however most likely that the second way is the most prominent one. This is because that option emphasizes that major overhauls of the policy should be made, that the measures should be more targeted, and that the spending of the CAP should be more efficient. All of these changes have been made more or less during the history of the CAP and the institutional framework therefore allows this way.

The aim of this study is to see whether or not the so called Million Homes Programme, that was established in 1965 with the aim to build one million residencies within a ten year span, could have had alternative paths of development and outcomes and whether or not those outcomes would have affected segregation in Sweden to the same degree that many consider the programme to have done today. To study this, the theoretical framework of historical institutionalism will be used, more specifically with the help of an analytical tool within that framework that is called “path dependence” where the purpose is to identify critical junctures, at which actors, through influence from institutions, significantly limit the choice of actions by actors at a future point in the process. Furthermore, the study will be performed by means of analysing texts, specifically state public reports from 1965, 1975 and 1990. The results of the study show that there is a degree of path dependence in the Million Homes Programme, although the degree is not as great as expected. The urbanization and struggle of balance between state and municipalities in city planning are the main factors that enable a certain path dependence. However, more material must be analysed in order to establish a stronger degree of path dependence. The study is able to confirm that the Million Homes Programme could have developed alternatively and had different outcomes, but it is not possible to confirm whether or not those outcomes would have affected or significantly changed the segregation that is seen in Sweden today.

The aim with this thesis is to find out how one can understand the exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency of Denmark and the United Kingdom, as well as their attitude to European integration. It has been implemented in a comparative case study using theories in which the case has been the central focus of the investigation. The theories being used is rational actor model that emphasizes rational decision-making and self-interest. In comparison to that theory has a historical institutional perspective been used, which emphasizes path-dependency and critical events. The focus of the study is the time when the countries became members of the European Economic Community in 1973 to the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 where these exceptions not to introduce the euro as the currency was ratified. In the analysis section, one can see portions of both theories to a varying degree. The conclusions of the study is that both countries show a skeptical attitude to European integration and that the exceptions to not introduce the euro as a currency is based on this critical view of moving power to centralized institutions.

This study is a case study that observes the development of equality strategies in the European Union. After the former strategy for equality ended in 2015 there has been expectations that the European Commission would present a new strategy for equality. Therefore, the new strategy for equality was a disappointment for several actors and institutions of the European Union. The new strategy for equality is a work document and has a lower status in comparison with former strategies for equality in the EU. As a result, several actors and institutions are worried about the development of equality without a complete strategy.   To examine the development of strategies for equality in the EU historical institutionalism and a process called historic process tracing is used in this case study. The current strategy for equality 2016-2019 is going to be compared to the former strategies for 2006-2010 and 2010-2015. Are there any indications that the new work document represents a critical juncture or is it the result of path dependency and the way that EU equality strategies follows? To observe this case Hall and Taylors´ four distinct features of historical institutionalism has been the theoretical vantage point in this study.   To summarize the results of this study there has not been many substantial changes between the different equality strategies. However, changes has been identified through the way the commission presents their strategies. The new strategy for equality has also been criticised for the way the Commission has presented the document.  There are signs of a conflict in the union where different institutions rely on different patterns and structures. While the Commission presents a work document other actors and institutions in the EU are currently debating for a concise and formal strategy.

The European Council is today an important and powerful institution in the EU. Starting as just informal meetings among the leaders of the European community in the 1960's, it has now developed and has become one of the seven institutions in the European Union. The study uses Historical Institutionalism as theory and process-tracing as method. Historical Institutionalism is providing the paper with the analysis tools. With critical juncture, positive feedbacks, path-dependency and sequencing as analysis tools the paper is explaining and analyzing the European Council from an historical institutionalistic perspective and also is identifying actors that are either promoting the progress of the European Council or are opponents of the progress of the European Council. The study shows that the critical juncture took place at the summit in Paris 1974 and therefore the institution was led into path dependency. The result of the critical juncture and the path dependency is that the institution is lacking options of changing itself. Instead the critical juncture is making the institution predictable in regard to which direction it's going to take due to the positive feedbacks and sequencing and therefore it is just going deeper in the path-dependency and making it harder to change direction the further down the same path the institution is going. Looking at the history, the study shows that the leaders of Germany and France has been important actors for institutional development for the European Council, but that the United Kingdom and Denmark often in the history has been negatively of institutional change, no matther who's prime minister at the time.