ARENA - Center for European Studies, University of Oslo

ARENA is a research centre studying the dynamics of the evolving European systems of governance.
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Johan P. Olsen

Professor, Research Director

Picture Johan P. Olsen

Johan P. Olsen is professor and joint Research Director with Morten Egeberg at ARENA.

Professor Johan P. Olsen has been the Research Director of ARENA since its start as a programme in 1994. He now shares the responsibility with professor Morten Egeberg. Olsen is also Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He holds an honorary doctorate at the University of Copenhagen and Åbo Academy. From APSA he recieved John Gaus award in 2003 and the Aaron Wildavsky award in 2004.

Projects(s): Europeanization as Institutionalization and De-institutionalization

The theoretical issue is, what happens to organized political units, like nation states, when they become part of a larger unit, like the EU? Political integration and disintegration are seen as general and recurring political phenomena and a basic assumption is that institutional change is not simply reflecting differences in the comparative functional efficiency of alternative forms. That is, political institutions are not assumed to adapt quickly to changes in external conditions and human purposes through processes of competitive selection or rational adaptation. Instead, we need to understand the explanatory role of institutions. Key assumptions are: (a) Different institutions are constituted by different ties and relationships. (b) Institutional integration involves different mixes of instrumental concerns and consequentialism and constitutive identities. (c) Institutional dynamics, i.e. how quickly institutions will arise, adapt to environmental changes and reforms, and dissolve, are depending on the kinds of ties on which the institutions are primarily based. These issues will be illuminated by a series of case-studies, most of them already finished.

Selected publications:

Europeanisation. To be printed in Michelle Cini (ed.): European Union Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2003.

Towards a European administrative Space? ARENA working paper No 26 2002. To be printed in Journal of European Public Policy 2003.

Reforming European institutions of governance. Journal of Common Market Studies 2002 40 (4): 581-602. To be reprinted in Joseph H H Weiler, Iain Begg and John Peterson (eds) 'Integration in an Expanding European Union: Reassessing the Fundamentals' (Oxford and Malden MA: Blackwell), 2003.

What is a legitimate role for Euro-citizens? ARENA working paper No 24 2002. To appear in Comparative European Politics 1 (1): March 2003.

Coping with Conflict at Constitutional Moments. ARENA working paper No 23, 2002. (to appear in Festschrift for James G. March, 2003).

Elements of a Research Agenda. In Democracy and European Governance. Towards a New Political Order in Europe? Proceedings from ARENA European Conference 2002.: 73-77.

The Many Faces of Europeanization. Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 40 (5): 921-52, 2002.

"Garbage cans, new institutionalism and the study of politics". In American Political Science Review, 95(1): 191-198, 2001.

"Organising European Institutions of Governance". ARENA Working Paper 00/2. Oslo: ARENA. To appear in Helen Wallace (ed.): Whose Europe? Interlocking Dimensions of Integration Sussex. London: Macmillan (forthcoming 2001).

"Europeisering som tredobbel politisk balanseakt" (Europeanization as a triple political balancing act). ARENA Working Paper 00/9. Oslo: ARENA-working paper no. 9, 2000. To appear in Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift (november/desember 2000).

"Domstoler og demokrati" (Courts of law and democracy). Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift 17(1): 86-90, 2000. Reprinted as: Den dømmende makt og flukten fra den demokratiske politikken (The judicial power and the flight from democratic politics), Justisdepartementets småskriftserie no. 1, 2000.

"Democracy and Schooling: An Institutional Perspective" (with J. G. March). In L.M. McDonnell, P.M. Timpane, and R. Benjamin (eds.): Rediscovering the Democratic Purposes of Education: 148-173. Lawrence, Ka.: University Press of Kansas 2000.

"Political engineering in the name of the people?" In Journal of European Public Policy, 7(2): 310-316, 2000.

"Organisering og styring av universiteter" (Organization and governance of universities). In Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift: 17(3): 231-249, 2000. Also: ARENA Working Paper 00/20.

"How, then, does one get there? An institutionalist comment to Herr Fischer's vision of a European Federation". In C. Joerges, Y. Meny and J. Weiler (eds.): What Kind of Constitution for What Kind of Polity? Responses to Joschka Fischer. Florence: Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, EUI/Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Law School, Jean Monnet Chair, 2000.

Review of W.T. Gormley, Jr. and D.L. Weimer 1999, Organizational Report Cards. Cambridge Ma: Harvard University Press. Journal of Public Policy 19 (3): 318-20.

Knut Dahl Jacobsen, Commemorative speech, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, April 8 1999.

"The institutional dynamics of international political orders" (with J.G. March). In International Organization 52: 943-969, 1998. Reprinted in P.J. Katzenstein, R.O. Keohane and Stephen D. Krasner (eds.) 1999, Exploration and Contestation in the Study of World Politics, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1999.

"An Institutional Perspective on Political Institutions" (with James G. March). In Governance 9(3): 247-264, 1996. Reprinted in J.G. March: The Pursuit of Intelligence: 52-71. Oxford: Blackwell, 1999.

Organizing Organizations (with Nils Brunsson) Oslo: Fagbokforlaget 1998.

Europa i Norden - Europeisering av nordisk samarbeid (Europe in the Nordic Countries - Europeanisation of the Nordic Cooperation) (co-edited with Bjørn Otto Sverdrup). Oslo: Tano Aschehoug 1998.

Lessons from Experience. Experiential Learning in Administrative Reforms in Eight Democracies. (co-edited with B. Guy Peters). Oslo: Scandinavian University Press 1996.

Democratic Governance. (With James G. March). New York: The Free Press 1995.

Organisering av offentlig sektor. Perspektiver - reformer - erfaringer - utfordringer (Organizing the Public Sector. Perspectives - Reforms - Changes - Challenges) (co-edited with Per Lægreid). Oslo: Tano 1993.

Svensk demokrati i förändring (The Changing Swedish Democracy) (ed.). Stockholm: Carlssons 1991.

Demokrati på svenska (Democracy Swedish Style). Stockholm: Carlssons 1990.

Makten att reformera (The Reforming Organization) (co-edited with Nils Brunsson). Stockholm: Carlssons 1990. A revised version has been published in English: The Reforming Organization. London: Routledge 1993. It has also been reprinted: The Reforming Organization. Oslo: Fagbokforlaget.

Rediscovering Institutions. The Organizational Basis of Politics (with James G. March). New York: Free Press 1989. Also Italian and Japanese editions.

Statsstyre og institusjonsutforming (State Governance and Institutional Design). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1988.

Organized Democracy. Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l983.

Meninger og makt (Opinions and Power). Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l980.

Aksjoner og demokrati (Citizens' Initiatives and Democracy) (with Harald Sætren). Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l980.

Byråkrati og beslutninger (Bureaucracy and Decision Making) (with Per Lægreid). Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l978.

Politisk organisering (Political Organizing). Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l978.

Ambiguity and Choice in Organizations (with James G. March). Bergen: Universitetsforlaget l976 (reprinted l979, l982, also translated to Japanese).