ABSTRACT
CONTENTS Introduction............................................................................................ 328 The Problem of Specialization and Coordination.................................... 330 The Norwegian Context: The Network Model and Weak Coordination .... 332 The Reorganization of Homeland Security.............................................. 333
The Initiative: An Increased Focus on Civil Security...................... 334 The Commission’s Report: Radical Change toward
a Hierarchical Model ................................................................. 334 The Government Report: Toward an Agency Model ..................... 335 The Parliamentary Reading: Cultural Collusion but
Approval for the Government Report ........................................ 338
Discussion and Theoretical Reflections-Framing the Field ........................ 339 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 342 References ................................................................................................... 344 Endnotes ..................................................................................................... 346
Achieving a balance between coordination, specialization, autonomy, and control is an enduring problem both in organizational theory and in administrative practice. This challenge is especially relevant when it comes to the organization of risk management. Organization and reorganization can be seen as a way of managing risk, and hence it is important and interesting how the reorganization is carried out and the result of it, and in particular how the process is affected by how risk is conceived. As part of a fundamental review of homeland security, a reorganization took place in the Norwegian homeland security administration in the early years of the new century. In 1999, the government appointed a public commission to assess the vulnerability of Norwegian society. One of its main proposals was to improve vertical and horizontal coordination in the security administration by establishing a new special ministry for homeland security (NOU, 2000:24). These recommendations were, however, not approved by the government in the White Paper presented to parliament in 2002. Instead, the process resulted in only minor changes in the security administration.
