Collaboration as legislation – experiences from Norway.
Jarle L. Sørensen
Terror struck Norway on July 22, 2011, when the Norwegian-born Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in Oslo and at Utøya. In the aftermath of the attacks, the official investigation report concluded that the Norwegian society`s response to terror had been insufficient. While no persons or organizations were to individually blame, the overall ability to collaborate across sectors had been inadequate. As a response, the former Government Stoltenberg made several initiatives, including establishing in 2012 collaboration as a fourth national legislative emergency preparedness principle together with the already existing principles of responsibility, equality, and proximity. The principles of responsibility, equality, and proximity are also found in Swedish and Danish legislation, while collaboration is currently unique for Norway.
The existence of well-structured collaboration at an early crisis-stage positively affects the overall outcome. The Norwegian principle of collaboration states that public, private, and volunteer authorities and organizations all have an individual responsibility to ensure best possible crisis collaboration with other relevant crisis stakeholders, including mitigation and preparedness efforts. The principle`s goal is to highlight the need for optimal utilization of resources across sectors and to emphasize individual and joint obligations across national, regional and local levels in crisis work. The principle was before July 22 and still is, the legislative base for the organizational model of the Norwegian rescue services, which are carried out through a collaboration between public, private and volunteer stakeholders. By introducing collaboration as a national principle, collaboration is now a consistent and independent preparedness principle across branches and sectors regardless of type or level of crisis.
Norway, together with other northern countries such as Sweden, has a decentralized crisis management model, which is based on a decentralized, bottom-up system with some elements of centralization. Christensen, Lægreid, and Rykkja (2016) argued that the Norwegian model was characterized by accountability pulverization, fragmentation, and weak coordination. Such a model poses multiple collaboration challenges. In a crisis, collaboration is considered a primary concern, as it may impact a society`s overall ability to deal with adverse consequences. Lacking collaboration makes it harder for strategic leaders to meet social and political expectations and may result in less efficiency, flexibility, and overall resilience. The effects of collaboration as legislation are as of today little researched.