Sammendrag
The article examines how and to what extent Norwegian county administrations are affected by EU/EEA policies, and to what extent the county administrationsʼ implementation of EU/EEA regulations is influenced by national authorities, EU/EEA institutions, and networks of sister regions. Previous studies have shown how national central administrations, in connection with implementation of EU/EEA regulations, act with several ʻhatsʼ as part of complex institutional governance patterns with administrative relations to several actors. This study uses quantitative (N = 893) and qualitative (N = 12) data to help expand the literature on Multi-level Administration (MLA) to include sub-national levels of government in the analysis. The article compares findings with findings from the central administration survey in 2016 and shows that the county administrations are influenced by EU/EEA regulations to almost the same degree as national ministries, and that several external actors simultaneously influence how EU/EEA policies are implemented by the county administrations. The fact that the county municipalities come into contact with EU/EEA policies in some areas more often than in other areas may affect the county municipalitiesʼ traditional governance patterns and have implications for the county municipalitiesʼ internal cohesion.
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