Tjänstepersoners inflytande i policyprocessen -En jämförelse av en liten respektive stor kommun

Sammanfattning: The notion that exists in society is that it is the politicians who decide while the public officials stand for facts within the policy process, and that they are active at various stages in the process. In practice, however, it looks different and the public officials have more influence than the theory predicts. The purpose of this essay is to investigate the influence of public officials in the policy process by studing whether the influence differs depending on the size of the municipality. We will also study the stage in which public officials have the most influence over the policy process in the different municipalities. To be able to conduct this study, the following questions have been posed: "How much influence do public officials have in the policy process in a small municipality and a large municipality?" and "which step in the policy process does public officials have the most influence, in a small and large municipality in Sweden?" As an empirical material, a survey was conducted in which the respondents were public officials in a small and a large municipality and public officials in a large municipality. We find that public officials in the small municipality have a greater opportunity for influence than public officials in the larger municipality. The public officials in the larger municipality have the most influence in the policy formulation stage in the policy process, while the public officials in the small municipality have the most influence in the problem identification stage.