EWS The global financial crisis and the public sector in the Nordic countries

Acute financial crises, as the one being experienced since 2008, tend to exercise a negative effect on the provision of public services - largely as a result of resource stringencies and efficiency-enhancing measures.Despite the fact that the Nordic count ries as a whole have been less affected by the current economic climate than other parts of the world, governments across the region have, nonetheless, undertaken a series of policy measures aimed at ensuring the future financial sustainability of various arms of the public sector in years to come. This phenomenon is part and parcel of a broader modernization process which can be traced back to the late 80s/early 90s, but that it has intensified in the last decade or so. In taking the global financial c risis initiated in 2008 (entitled here 'the crisis') as our point of departure, our interest in comparing dynamics across public health and higher education in the Nordic countries is centered on the following research queries: - To what extent has the c risis affected ongoing reform processes and trajectories? -How have the main service providers, hospitals and universities, responded to the crisis? - Has the crisis created new strategic opportunities in the light of the vested interests of powerful s takeholders, internal and external? - What has the impact of the crisis been when it comes to shifting strategic priorities and prevalent behaviors? - How can the current dynamics across the two sectors be interpreted, and what does that tell us about t he future direction of the public sector in (Northern) Europe? - Going forward, what are the major implications of the empirical findings when it comes to future policy platforms and research agendas? In order to tackle these (and related) queries, four high level workshops involving researchers with intrinsic knowledge of the two sectors and lasting 1.5 days each will be held - in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark - between September 2014 and September 2015