CHANGES IN DECISION-MAKING STRUCTURES IN AN INTEGRATED EUROPE - A NORDIC PERSPECTIVE

Development policy in the Nordic countries will change because of the European agreement on an economic sphere. From a traditional-Nordic th ree-level national planning and decision making system (national, regi onal, local) a four-level system with an added European layer will be used. New types of conflits will emerge because of the new power struc tures. National structures cannot remain unchanged when power to make decisions will relocate on these four levels. The role of the national state will to a certain extent be diminished and on the regional and local level two different and partly conflicting frameworks - the nati onal and the international - have to be included in the decision makin g strategy. From a theoretical point of view this implies a change fro m mechanistic-unitary to systematic-pluralistic. Levels will be bypass ed and conflicting interests cannot be recognised in a strictly hierar chical manner any more. The new decision making system has to cope wit h the fact that unresolvabie (in traditional terms) conflicts of inter est will emerge in certain situations. Regional decision making power and strategy have to be optimised for these new situations. This leads to a redesign of the decision making structure on the regional and lo cal level. The framework for the analysis is the Nordic context. A str ategy for allocation of decision making power is outlined and the main criteria for conflict resolution strategies are given together with a n assessment of probable future trends. The emerging tension between o n one hand the demands for regional self-determination and on the othe r hand needs for national harmonisation is analysed.