Den subnationella tjänstemannarollen i Bryssel? : En studie som undersöker regionala tjänstemän på representationskontor i Bryssel

Sammanfattning: The purpose of the thesis is to study the role of the subnational civil servant and their discretions in a Multilevel Governance context, based on how it differs from the traditional role of the civil servant in Sweden. This is done by studying officials at Swedish Regional Representation Offices in Brussels through the method of semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework is based on research about traditional activities and role of the public administration, but also in the differences of duties between politicians and officials. Furthermore, the thesis is constructed on Europeanization research and a Multilevel Governance approach, where regional actions in a multi-level system can be clarified and explored by the dimensions of Europeanization: the download-, crossload- and upload dimension. The methodological assessment tool consists of a content analysis, where the collected interview data is compared and discussed using a constructed ideal type of the Weberian role of a civil servant. The respondent's descriptions and views of their role in Brussels is the main focus of the analysis.   To summarise, the regional officials in Brussels consider their scope of discretion as broad. Furthermore, the results illustrate that is not possible to distinguish the role of the sub-national civil service in Brussels, based on the designed ideal type. It’s because of the complexity of the Multilevel Governance system. The results show a significant variation between the respondent's experiences and descriptions of their duties at the office in Brussels. The official’s which are working with a tougher line of lobbying in Brussels, experience their role as both political and apolitical, where the civil servant role enters the political sphere. By working with lobby activities that imply the duty of a politician, they describe their role between the administration and the political sphere. When the officials are working with lobby initiatives in Brussels, they are acting as the political voice of the home organization, but always with a clear lobby mandate from their politicians.