Evaluation of the policy governance model in the five regions - Media analysis, 2008

Since the local government reform in 1970 the governance of the Danish counties has remained unchanged. The Local Government Act made new forms of local government systems possible in the 1990’ies. However, the counties continued to be governed by committees. In connection with the structural reform this form of government was abandoned in favour of the cabinet system which established a new framework for the administration of the regions and the duties of the regional council chairman. This form of governance will be implemented 1st January 2007 in the Danish regions. This study mainly focuses on three subjects: The implementation of the cabinet system in the five regions; political leadership, governance and control in the cabinet system; democracy, responsibility and responsiveness in the cabinet system. The methods used in the data collection include: Interviews with selected politicians and top officials in the regions. Questionnaires completed by members of the Regional Councils. A survey conducted among 1000 citizens in each region. Observations of meetings in the regional councils, executive committees and ad hoc committees. Analyses of agendas, minutes and other written materials. This part of the study is a quantitative content analysis of the media coverage in and of the regions. Regions, media and time span have been selected by the researchers. The sample consists of 22 days in total.