ABSTRACT
"Citizen-orientation" has long been a watch-word in the pursuit of good governance in cities and regions. The concern with "virtue" is particularly expressed through strategies that aim at enhancing the transparency and accountability of local governance. To maintain its legitimacy, it may not be enough for local government to offer a choice between service providers or delivering services with a smile. Choices of development paths are observed through which different tools and ideologies reinforce one another in the quest for better governance capacities. Recent surveys of municipal home pages in the Nordic countries found that a good number had introduced citizen chat pages or debate forums. The patterns are a great deal more complex and more challenging to explain today than back in 1997/98. The Nordic countries have gone through a decade of economic growth. The data illustrate a continuous interest in classical NPM reform strategies, but we can also see an increasing interest in community involvement strategies.
