Mid Sweden University

This paper highlights major methodological obstacles to studying and performing critical infrastructure protection (CIP) in general and CIP governance in particular. The study simultaneously examines a research project on and practice in the context of Swedish CIP. The complex planning approach of interest is called Styrel, a Swedish acronym for Steering Electricity to prioritised power consumers. It aims to identify and prioritise power consumers of societal importance, collectively referred to as critical infrastructure (CI), to provide an emergency response plan for the event of a national power shortage. Methodologically, the investigation uses material from document studies, interviews and a survey, which involved many actors from the Swedish case. For the analysis of the methodological obstacles, this study applies an abstracted research and development process that encompasses four steps: data collection, data assessment, decision-making and evaluation. The paper mutually maps the insights from the research project to the empirical evidence from the case study. Through this reflective analysis, the findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges that significantly impede research and practice in the context of national and international CIP, for example, insufficient information sharing and knowledge exchange among parties, a lack of integrated and advanced methods, and uncertainty in policies that induces a variety of local approaches. In addition, since empirical research on implemented CIP plans is limited, this paper addresses this gap. It reveals five general obstacles for both research and practice: a) the access to high-quality data, b) the loss of knowledge over time, c) the interpretation and evaluation of processes and methods, d) the transferability and comparability of data, results and insights; whereas all culminate in 5) a lack of collective intelligence. The accumulation of these obstacles hinders a detailed assessment of decision-making for CIP and its consequences on society. For this reason, this study emphasises the need for enhancing mutual understanding among the various parties in the area of CIP while respecting relevant security issues when inventing novel methods that facilitate collective intelligence.

The present study aims to analyse these tensions and investigate the importance of the local political context with regard to the ability of local civil society organisations to influence local politicians and local public administrators. This paper contributes new knowledge on the question of what types of relational and contextual factors affect the outcome of attempts to exert influence in local communities. The study investigates whether the connectedness of organisations and the local political context matter. This study uses data from a national survey distributed to a random sample of 740 voluntary associations around Sweden. The survey focused on local civil societies’ attempts to influence Swedish decision-makers and public policy at a local level. The present study uses this data to addresses the possibility of a mutual relationship between civil society organisations and local political organisations and test whether contextual factors, such as the longevity of the current political majority, have any impact on the ability of civil society organisations to exert political influence. The results indicate that civil society organisations that have ongoing cooperative relationships with local governments seem to also have a more privileged position in terms of influencing both local civil servants and local politicians. The results also indicate that those local politicians that operate in municipalities that are governed by broad coalitions tend to be less responsive.

This paper highlights difficulties in studying the Swedish crisis management system with a specific focus on the planning process STYREL. This process seeks to identify and prioritize vital objects in the category of critical infrastructure (CI) in order to elaborate an emergency response plan for the case of a power shortage. The concerns in this paper originate from a research project on how actors assess CI and cooperate during the process as well as which consequences the prioritization of CI pose for society and its citizens. The project employed material from document studies in addition to interviews with security officers at municipalities, coordinators at CountyAdministrative Boards (CABs), and representatives from power grid operators (PGOs). Furthermore, a survey was conducted among all CABs and the ten PGOs that are responsible for effectuating the plan within the initial phaseof a power shortage. The results reveal problems regarding the availability of relevant planning material, gaps in knowledge due to deficient continuity, difficulties in tracing particular objects during the process, and a lack of feedback that hampers evaluation and development. Thus, Swedish critical infrastructure protection (CIP) suffers from not only a shift in responsibility to regional and local actors but also a severe lack of systemic governance.

This paper highlights the difficulties in the studies of the crisis management system. Our focus is on the Swedish planning process in the case of power shortage, called Styrel. Our paper depart from a research project entitled From Authorities to Citizens and Back. The aim of the project is to increase the knowledge on the decision-making processes within Styrel with a focus on how the actors co-operate within the planning process, and what consequences the priorities of socially important objects have for society and its citizens. Methodologically, the project is based on document studies, interview with security officers in forty-seven municipalities, three coordinators at the County administrative board (CAB), and representatives for local power grid companies. Furthermore, a survey has been conducted with all coordinators at the CAB. The intended objective has also been to take part of the planning documents in order to investigate if there are any differences between how the objects were prioritized by the municipalities and how they were finally prioritized. Our experience from the study reviles problems with availability of relevant planning material, lack of knowledge due to deficient continuity at the local level regarding those responsible for Styrel, and finally difficulties in following individual objects during the planning process.

STYREL är en planeringsprocess som syftar till att säkra elförsörjningen vid ensituation av elbrist. Att STYREL är en viktig planeringsprocess med stor betydelseför att trygga elförsörjningen till samhällsviktiga elanvändare är en uppfattningsamtliga intervjuade uttrycker. Samtidigt råder det också konsensus kring attprocessen är i behov av utveckling och förändring för att uppnå de syften somligger bakom processen.Empirin för undersökningen har utgjorts av centrala dokument och utredningar,65 intervjuer, deltagande observation samt deltagande vid möten ochnätverksträffar inom ramen för planeringsprocessen. Den kritiska granskningen avprocessen visar att det finns flera förbättringsområden som bör beaktas i syfte atthöja kvaliteten och minska risken för att viktiga samhällsfunktioner blir utan elvid en situation av elbrist. De områden som särskilt lyfts fram i studien handlarom nödvändigheten av att integrera löpande feedback i planeringssystemet, attskapa nätverk på både lokal och regional nivå för att tillförsäkra att intesamhällsviktiga privata aktörer eller aktörer inom det civila samhället faller bort iplaneringen samt att ytterligare tydliggöra de olika stegen och de olika rollerna iplaneringssystemet. I detta arbete går det att finna lösningar som redan beprövatsdels i jämförelse med internationella processer kring kritisk infrastruktur, dels inationella processer inom krishanteringssystemet.

STYREL is a planning process aiming at ensuring electricity supply to sociallyimportant objects during a situation of power shortage. The fact that STYREL is animportant planning process with great importance for securing the electricitysupply to important users of electricity is an opinion all the interviewees express.At the same time, there is also a consensus that the process is in need ofdevelopment and change in order to achieve the aims behind the process.The empirical study included documents, investigations, 65 interviews,participatory observation and participation in meetings and network meetingswithin the framework of the planning process. The critical review shows that thereare several areas of improvement to consider that could increase the quality andreduce the risk of important social functions becoming without electricity during aperiod of power shortage. The areas that are particularly highlighted in the studyconcern the necessity of integrating recurring feedback into the planning system,creating networks at both local and regional level to ensure that private-sector orimportant civil society actors is excluded and finally, further clarify the varioussteps and the different roles in the planning system. This can be achievedcomparing with international planning systems on critical infrastructure and withnational planning systems within the crisis management systems.

Studien undersöker i vilken mån det förekommer kontakter mellan grupper som är olika varandra eller inte inom civilsamhällets organisationer och nätverk och om kontakterna samvarierar med lägre fördomar och högre tillit till grupper som är annorlunda en själv. Studien är baserad på en surveyundersökning som är genomförd till ett urval av invånare mellan 18-84 år i 36 svenska kommuner. Totalt deltog drygt 10200 personer i undersökningen. I takt med att mångfalden i samhället ökar framställs arenor som möjliggör kontakter mellan grupper alltmer centrala för den sociala sammanhållningen. Flera tidigare studier pekar på samband mellan exempelvis tillit och ökad livskvalitet, bättre självskattad hälsa. Kontakter mellan grupper inom ramen för civilsamhället förekommer i varierande utsträckning mellan typ av organisationer och kommuner. Resultaten pekar på betydelsen av att kontakterna uppfattas som positiva för tillit och tolerans mellan grupper. Resultaten är i linje med tidigare studier på att yngre är mer benägna att uppfatta kontakter som positiva än äldre.

Electricity is a key resource for the majority of societal functions and constitutes an important sector in the critical infrastructure of modern societies. Disturbances in power supply can have cascading effects on interdependent public sectors and ordinary citizens. However, it seems nearly impossible to completely prevent the occurrence of power shortages. Strategies to address temporary power losses are therefore essential. This paper aims to increase the understanding of national policies to manage the early consequences of power outages. Therefore, we critically review the Swedish national policy called Styrel as part of Swedish Crisis Management System. In the scientific literature, there are few examples similar to Styrel for handling emergencies in the electricity system. Particularly, we seek to discover related risks and benefits, conditions and constraints, as well as effects for specific stakeholders. We argue that the approach cannot yet be considered as fully developed. Three areas requiring improvement are identified. First, the scope and terms of the process must be specified. Second, (better) quality management seems necessary. Third, people responsible for identifying and prioritizing power consumers critical to local society need better decision aid. Improvements could facilitate risk-communication and collaboration among actors as well as decision-making and organisational learning.