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Indispensable, yet Invisible: Drinking water management as a local political issue in Swedish municipalities

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  • Anna Bendz
  • Åsa Boholm

Abstract

Local policy-makers’ incentives to address an issue is conditioned by how they perceive public attention. Our study focuses on drinking water management at the municipal level in Sweden. Provisioning and management of drinking water is a responsibility of the local governments. Interviews with local politicians and public administrators in seven municipalities reveal that local policy-makers think that citizens view provisioning of drinking water as a taken for granted service, and also lack knowledge of and interest in drinking water issues. Public attention is further seen as a double-edged sword since engagement in water issues often is a result of problems with water provision. The findings are discussed from a theoretical perspective of the role of agenda-setting in public policy. It is argued that the view of policy-makers of citizens as unengaged negatively affects the incentives to bring drinking water to a prominent place on the local policy agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Bendz & Åsa Boholm, 2020. "Indispensable, yet Invisible: Drinking water management as a local political issue in Swedish municipalities," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(5), pages 800-819, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:46:y:2020:i:5:p:800-819
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2019.1682557
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    Cited by:

    1. Ulf Stein & Benedict Bueb & Gabrielle Bouleau & Gaële Rouillé-Kielo, 2023. "Making Urban Water Management Tangible for the Public by Means of Digital Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
    2. Beatrice Hedelin & Johanna Alkan-Olsson & Larry Greenberg, 2023. "Collaboration Adrift: Factors for Anchoring into Governance Systems, Distilled from a Study of Three Regulated Rivers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.

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