Policy networks—A threat to procedural and expert-based decision making and the quality of public risk decisions?

Vicki Johansson

International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, 2015, vol. 9, issue C, 3-12

Abstract: This paper focuses on how risk management practices and decision making in a government agency are affected when a high-ranking policy network is activated during the planning process of a major road construction project. The policy network studied in this paper comprised Volvo, Ericsson, SAAB, the Gothenburg Municipal Executive Committee Chairman and the Swedish Transport Administration Director General, among others. The network worked to incorporate an experimental fifth lane on the E45 roadway. The experimental lane was presented as an investment that would create business opportunities – companies from around the world could use the E45 to test new car models, safety devices and technical and environmental measures. During the months before the experimental road lane project was terminated by the National Road Administration, road officials at the street level prepared two design plans, one with the experimental road lane and the other without the lane. The principal assignment for the officials was to initiate and make decisions on the basis of risk analysis. The four risk themes considered during the planning process were localization, road solution, publicity and legality.

Keywords: Policy networks; Risk management; Decision making; Public bureaucrats; Road construction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1874548215000219
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ijocip:v:9:y:2015:i:c:p:3-12

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijcip.2015.02.003

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection is currently edited by Leon Strous

More articles in International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().