Denna kunskapsöversikt är genomförd av Ahmed Kaharevic, Ida Lindgren och Elin Wihlborg samtliga anställda vid Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling (IEI), Linköpings universitet. Vi är alla verksamma inom forskningsfältet digital offentlig förvaltning, dvs hur digitalisering inom offentliga verksamheter påverkar mötet med medborgaren, och hur dessa möten måste beaktas vid utveckling, design och användning av digitala tjänster. Vår forskning bedrivs inom forskningsmiljön RIDE – Resilient institutionell design i en digital era, som professor Wihlborg leder med grundfinansiering från Vetenskapsrådet under perioden 2024–2030. Ida Lindgren är professor vid avdelningen för informationssystem och digitalisering. Ahmed Kaharevic disputerade i Statsvetenskap i december 2025. 

Artificiell intelligens (AI) är en realitet som i allt högre grad påverkar hur samhällets institutioner organiseras, styrs och uppfattas. Även i kommunal verksamhet har AI börjat göra avtryck, allt ifrån automatiserade beslutssystem till individanpassad service och digitala stöd för administration. I den svenska förvaltningsmodellen, som präglas av kommunernas starka lokala självstyre, med högt ställda krav på rättssäkerhet, demokrati och effektivitet, medför AI:s intåg inte bara tekniska eller organisatoriska utmaningar utan väcker också djupare frågor om ansvar, legitimitet och värdegrund. När nya tekniska lösningar – som AI - utvecklas i snabb takt behöver vi som samhälle reflektera kring hur tekniken kan, bör och kanske inte ska formas, tolkas och används i praktiken. I kommunerna, som förväntas hantera även AI inom sitt självstyre, används idag många digitala lösningar som direkt formar hur människor lever, möter och förstår offentlig service och AI kan här vara ytterligare ett verktyg.

Sweden became an outlier among the Nordic countries in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Nordic countries have historically shared a social democratic welfare state regime, with strong cooperation and harmonization of social policies, their responses to the pandemic showcased fundamental differences to that of Sweden. In particular, Sweden’s prioritization of individual civil liberties over social rights diverged from the more coercive approaches of Finland and Norway, which placed greater emphasis on public health and social welfare. This study examines the media framing surrounding the contrasting Swedish approach and highlights the dichotomy between statist individualism/autonomy and welfare paternalism/interdependence that has been an inherent part of the Swedish welfare state framing. Employing interpretive policy analysis, the study explores the media narratives used by policy actors to frame their pandemic response in terms of individual autonomy and governmental paternalism. We identified two contrasting perspectives on governance regarding the COVID-19 policy strategy. One framing perspective backed the strategy, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding individual autonomy and minimizing central control. The other viewpoint demanded a lockdown and criticized the Swedish response as too lenient. This deviated from usual Swedish political alignments and created a polarized and lively debate around the core values of individual autonomy, agency, and central governmental paternalism. 

Democratic decision-making upholds local government legitimacy, institutionalising participation, debate, and decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated online meeting formats to maintain these democratic processes. This shift allowed for a natural experiment to study the effects of online local meetings on councillors’ floor time. This paper develops a method to analyse the transition from onsite to online meetings and its effect on floor time distribution, and we here analyse the effects on floor time among different age groups. Using video analysis of onsite and online meetings in two Swedish municipal councils, our results showed that age may not significantly predict floor time, contrary to digital divide theories. We suggest that Sweden’s high digital literacy and robust municipal IT support mitigated age-related differences in floor time. Future research should explore varying council sizes to broaden the context.

Matsäkerhet har blivit en alltmer brännande fråga för många utvecklade välfärdsstater och sårbarheten i komplext sammanvävda internationella matsystem gör att forskare framhävt betydelsen av lokala matsystem där kommuner spelar en avgörande roll. Mot den bakgrunden undersöks i den här studien hur frågor om matsäkerhet ger avtryck i kommunal policy, planering och administration i Sverige. Därutöver undersöks hur matsäkerhet förstås och ramas i på ett mer övergripande plan i relation till en lokal kontext. Studien, som bland annat bygger på en omfattande dokumentkartläggning, visar tydligt att frågor som rör matsäkerhet inte behandlas på något systematiskt sätt i kommunala planer eller policyer. Genom deltagande observationer visas även att frågor om matsäkerhet aktualiseras i relation till en krisberedskapsdiskussion, men att frågan inte kan diskuteras systematiskt då matsäkerhet och krisberedskap saknar förankring i formell policy, planering och administration. Studien visar på ett trängande behov av, men också institutionella svårigheter i att hantera matsäkerhet på ett mer strukturerat sätt.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sweden’s approach to school governance diverged from other nations by keeping schools open while integrating digital education. This strategy positioned school leaders as key intermediaries, translating national guidelines into operational practices. The study explores, based on two complementary surveys, how institutional frameworks influenced crisis management and digital transformation in Swedish schools.

Swedish school leaders navigated the crisis under strong municipal autonomy, facing limited formal authority but demonstrating high perceived implementation capacity. The pandemic functioned as a stress test for school governance, highlighting the balance between bureaucratic constraints and adaptive leadership in street-level bureaucracy. Our results indicate that school leaders in municipal schools experienced more intensive oversight and accountability compared to independent schools, who however increased their coordination with the local governing bodies.

In comparison to other Nordic countries, the Swedish school leaders experienced that they had more sufficient digital tools to manage the pandemic constraints and higher digital transformation readiness. Digital transformation played a critical role in crisis adaptation, with schools leveraging technology to maintain educational services and inter-municipal collaboration. By exploring the school leaders’ views on their capabilities, conditions and constraints during the digital transformation linked to the pandemic, the article contributes to research on local digital transformation in times of crisis. There is a need for further research on digital transformation and how governance structures shape crisis management on local level in a digital era.

This study explores the adaptation to automation in social services, focusing on organizational challenges and skill dynamics to enhance workforce competencies. Using a sociotechnical systems perspective, it examines social workers’ responses to implementing robotic process automation for decision-making. The analysis highlights a shift towards high-skilled labor, requiring advanced digital and interpersonal skills that can lead to job polarization and routine task automation. Key organizational challenges include resistance to automation, ethical considerations, and the need for effective communication and training. These findings emphasize the complexity of integrating automation in the public sector, necessitating transparent and inclusive strategies to build trust among employees and clients. Additionally, the study highlights competence challenges in ‘shrinking’ municipalities, pointing to the need for continuous skill development and organizational restructuring amidst technological advancements.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine interrupted the processes of digital reformation of the state which had been started after 2014 in favor of European integration and further democratic development. Nevertheless, nationwide digitalization had not slowed down in 2022-2023, and the Ukrainian government continued the path of digital transformation of public services. Blackouts and infrastructure damage created significant barriers, but simultaneously, the government's inability to refer to new challenges immediately activated civil society. Civic activists started cooperating to help local authorities deliver services to citizens, especially those which could not meet their new needs related to the war, such as the formation of databases of new vulnerable groups’ needs and the creation of platforms for mutual help. The paper considers how the processes of digital services provision were changed in times of war, highlighting the new role of civil mobilization by using technology, and discusses implications for research and peaceful practice.