Hållbarhetens mänskliga byggstenar - om betydelsen av engagerade tjänstemän i det lokala miljömålsarbetet

Abstract

Abstract This thesis focuses on the municipal civil servant’s role in local environmental work. The overall purpose is to increase knowledge about personal involvement in the role of the civil servant and indeed to contribute to existing theory on the significance of enthusiastic persons in carrying out political decisions. The thesis is based on three different sub-studies of the role of the civil servant in local environmental work. The first sub-study is a mapping of municipal environmental management officers. It was found that the majority of these officers are an environmentally aware elite, over 60 per cent are or have been members of environmental organizations. Within this group it was possible to discern three different shades: the gray-green, the light green and the clear green. Sub-study II investigates the actual work with the environmental objectives in six municipalities. The results show that involvement resides in the person. The enthusiastic person, the fiery spirit, is a recurrent theme throughout the interviews and is considered necessary throughout the process. Sub-study III is an intensified study of the results of the two previous sub-studies and indicates that enthusiastic people are important. The enthusiastic person or the fiery spirit is aware that there are risks; they call attention to the importance of balance and of being diplomatic. On the basis of the empirical material presented in this thesis, I am able to add new knowledge and contribute to the development of theory. My contribution can be summarized in two points: • development of the role of civil servant • effects of steering by objectives On the basis of the interviews with the fiery spirits I created two new ideal types: the enthusiastic bureaucrat, who is a person who can take issue and be brave, who does not always show evidence of pragmatic solutions but has a strong feeling for a community governed by law, and the networking balancing act artist, who is a problem-solver that joins the ranks of the new social movements. Management by objectives has given civil servants greater room for action, which widens the space for personal enthusiasm. Management by objectives in public activities does not need to mean that the decision-maker and the executor of policy stand on the same level in a multi-level-democratic system but that there is agreement over goals between decision-makers and executors.