National Equality and Local Decision- making: Values in Conflict in the Develop ment of the Norwegian Welfare State

Abstract

The values of national equality and local decision-making are discussed on the basis of two official Norwegian reports on the organization of social services. It is shown that the reports include a number of inconsistent goal formulations. Both values are. and always will be, in conflict, but it is argued that these goal conflicts may be made more explicit, and that a discussion of kinds and scope of acceptable inequalities should be started. The possibility of creating a cyclical process in which one or the other of the values has priority over the other in different time periods is suggested, though no practical solutions to the dilemmas are offered.¹