I dialogens namn : idén om en överenskommelse mellan regeringen och ideella organisationer

Sammanfattning: Many European countries have a model of formal agreements between the state and voluntary organisations involved in the core field of welfare, regarding their relative roles and cooperation. This dissertation analyzes the establishment of a Swedish agreement and how the cooperation leads up to the agreement. The cooperation process, known as the dialogue process, took place during more than a year, with the government inviting around eighty voluntary organisations. The theoretical framework of the dissertation is mainly what is know as institutional theory and a line of thought describing how ideas are not transferred and spread but translated and spread. The theoretical focus is on how original ideas are interpreted and why they gain a foothold in new contexts. With the help of empirical material in the form of documents, observations and interviews the dissertation shows how the idea of an agreement was spread from England to Sweden and how the government and the voluntary organisations acted during this process. One of the study’s conclusions is that the voluntary organisations took the initiative to create an agreement about “the role of game” but that the government transformed the voluntary organisations’ idea of an agreement to justify their own political goals. The Swedish agreement can therefore be seen as a step in clarifying Swedish social policy as regards responsibility for welfare. Voluntary organisations that have signed the agreement commit to contribute to securing welfare production. The dissertation shows that this role is appreciated by some of the voluntary organisations, while others question it.