From 'grey to green'- investigating the capabilities of the ... - lumes

1.2 Problem and aimWhen conducting research one looks at reality and tries to make some structured analysis based on a set ofconcepts. This thesis will seek to find variables in the field of the bureaucratic organisation. This thesis claimsthat the bureaucratic system is unable to be an actor of ensuring a Sustainable Development, as it has severaltimes proven to be slow and a reluctant force of ensuring a Sustainable Society (Pridham 2002:84). This ledthis thesis to investigate and understand the bureaucratic process and the bureaucratic organisation, withinwhich it is implemented. It therefore became of importance to understand the concept of the publicadministration. This ensures that one can be able to understand the issues that this organisation deals with inregards to implementing sustainable development policies. It is also of importance to understand howsustainable development policies differ from previous policies implemented by the same organisation, thereforethis will be analysed as well. When these parts are analysed and defined, this thesis will aim to conduct a casestudy that can increase the understanding of the process of implementing sustainable development within awestern bureaucratic society. The claim is founded upon that sustainable development is a type of policy that isbased on a holistic approach and that the current setting of bureaucratic organisation has difficulties handling,as it is not sufficiently constructed to deal with such policies.The thesis aims to explore the Swedish bureaucratic setting to increase the understanding regardingimplementation of Sustainable Development policies based on the case of Region Skåne.By analysing the questions:1) How does the current bureaucratic organisation look like and what constraints does thisstructure set on the implementation of Sustainable Development policies?2) How does the case study differ in regards to the ‘ideal type’ and what impacts does this have onthe ability to implement Sustainable Development policies?Two perspectives are analysed, the first is to identify the ‘ideal’ organisation and the critique and the problemsthis organisation finds itself in regarding new types of policies on an actor/structure level. The second is toanalyse how the case study differs from the ‘ideal’ type and the implications this has on the organisation andimplementation of sustainable development. Finding out the differences increases the understanding ofSustainable Development policy implementation in a western bureaucratic organisation.When conducting research one must ask why the problem posed is of interest for the current academicsettings. This thesis claims that the Sustainable Development is a new type of solution to a new type of problemregarding the un-sustainability of the current western societies. New problems need new solutions, within oldinstitutions, and finding the definitive way of trying to solve these new problems is a mission that has to beaddressed. Sustainable development is a concept that includes both state and non-state actors, these actors alsohave to cooperate towards a general goal of sustainable development. The concept is therefore founded uponthe fact that the whole of society has to be developing sustainably; if one part is not integrated in the workeffort, there can be no sustainable development. Driving this change is therefore a cross-sectoral and a multi –actor development, and steering this type of development means that new challenges are put not only upon theactors but also upon the system of steering as a whole (Bäckstrand et al 2004:227). Finding structures withinthe current organisation of society that can address the cross-sectoral approach that Sustainable Developmentneeds, is therefore one of the obstacles in the work of ensuring a sustainable society (Bäckstrand et al2004:227). There is in many western states an increasing concern to implement Sustainable Development intothe society, though even if many are talking about the concept of implementing sustainable development, thepolicies have been shown to be more difficult to implement. Primarily this is because they are based ondifferent construction then what the current structure in society have been organised around. The dominatingstructure of the current bureaucratic organisations is sectionalised Dryzek (1987) defined as analyticallyinstrumental, and that these organisations therefore lack a holistic perception of the problem of un-sustainability(Bäckstrand et al 2004:235). This is a complicated issue as the current structure is founded on specialiseddivided sectors that have diverging goals, and that these goals are often based on economic gains andcompetitive goals. The sector approach leads to a situation where some environmental issues become6