The purpose of the thesis is to study the role of the subnational civil servant and their discretions in a Multilevel Governance context, based on how it differs from the traditional role of the civil servant in Sweden. This is done by studying officials at Swedish Regional Representation Offices in Brussels through the method of semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework is based on research about traditional activities and role of the public administration, but also in the differences of duties between politicians and officials. Furthermore, the thesis is constructed on Europeanization research and a Multilevel Governance approach, where regional actions in a multi-level system can be clarified and explored by the dimensions of Europeanization: the download-, crossload- and upload dimension. The methodological assessment tool consists of a content analysis, where the collected interview data is compared and discussed using a constructed ideal type of the Weberian role of a civil servant. The respondent's descriptions and views of their role in Brussels is the main focus of the analysis.   To summarise, the regional officials in Brussels consider their scope of discretion as broad. Furthermore, the results illustrate that is not possible to distinguish the role of the sub-national civil service in Brussels, based on the designed ideal type. It’s because of the complexity of the Multilevel Governance system. The results show a significant variation between the respondent's experiences and descriptions of their duties at the office in Brussels. The official’s which are working with a tougher line of lobbying in Brussels, experience their role as both political and apolitical, where the civil servant role enters the political sphere. By working with lobby activities that imply the duty of a politician, they describe their role between the administration and the political sphere. When the officials are working with lobby initiatives in Brussels, they are acting as the political voice of the home organization, but always with a clear lobby mandate from their politicians. / Uppsatsens syfte är att analysera den subnationella tjänstemannarollen och dess handlingsutrymme i ett flernivåsystem, utifrån hur den skiljer sig från den traditionella tjänstemannarollen. Detta görs genom att studera tjänstemän på regionala representationskontor i Bryssel, utifrån semi-strukturerade intervjuer.   Uppsatsen tar ett teoretiskt avstamp i den traditionella förvaltningsverksamheten och i skillnaden mellan politikers och tjänstemäns uppdrag- samt rollfördelningen i den offentliga förvaltningen. Vidare utgår studien från europeiseringsforskning och har en multilevel governance ansats, där ett regionalt handlande i ett flernivåsystem förklaras i europeiseringsprocessernas download-, crossload- och upload-dimensioner. Det metodologiska analysverktyget består av en innehållsanalys av det empiriska intervjumaterialet. Intervjumaterialet jämförs och diskuteras utifrån en konstruerad idealtyp av den weberianska tjänstemannarollen, där fokus är intervjupersonernas uppfattningar och beskrivningar av sin roll i Bryssel. Sammanfattningsvis går det inte att urskilja den subnationella tjänstemannarollen i Bryssel utifrån den idealtyp som konstrueras. Tjänstemännens arbete i ett flernivåsystem är alltför komplext och det finns en betydande variation i hur tjänstemännen beskriver och upplever sin tjänstemannaroll. Generellt sätt uppfattar tjänstemännen i Bryssel sitt handlingsutrymme som brett. Tjänstemän som arbetar med en hårdare linje av påverkansarbete upplever att tjänstemannarollen går in i den politiska sfären och blir både politisk samt opolitisk. Den subnationella tjänstemannarollen upplevs befinna sig mellan administrationen och politiken, då påverkansuppdraget i Bryssel liknar en politikers, men där tjänstemännen är ett politiskt språkrör med ett tydligt påverkansmandat.

The desire for many people today is to be professional, and many occupations seek professional status. The idea of a profession has a higher status than a mere occupation; professionals have lot of knowledge and power to decide about their own work and they can also voice opinions about others. Occupations are driven towards attaining professional status. This process is not driven by single individuals aiming to exercise power in relation to other individuals. It is a collective, national process by an occupation. The overall aim of this dissertation is to examine, describe and analyze the process of professionalization of local public managers. There are four researchtopics: a) What are the characteristics of a professional group, and do these apply to local public managers? b) How is municipal organization portrayed with regard to the roles of politicians and administrators? c) How do politicians,managers, and public servants view themselves and each other in a normative and descriptive way? d) In what ways are managers trying to increase their influence to reach a position from which it is possible to choose to follow, or notfollow, a political decision? The methods used in this research are several; a deep case study in which surveys, observations, document studies and interviews are conducted. As theoretical framework theories of power, professionalization and discourse are used to analyze the empirical material from the case study.The results show top managers’ ongoing quest for professional status. They exclude other groups in order to handle their work without interference from others – discretion, the driving force behind professionalization. Usurpation is a strategy to get into the area of the politicians. Politicians are talked of as children in need for raise and a municipality is perceived as a private business enterprise. In this discourse values such as effectiveness, customer satisfaction, competition and value-for-money are important. The municipality is heavily inspired by thei deas of New Public Management. This development is quite problematic withregard to democracy. The democratic values such as public ethics, political democracyand the rule of law – the public ethos - are not spoken of. My hope is that this dissertation can prompt managers to reflect, since I have tried to see their work from a different perspective than what they most probably use.