Citation for the version of the work held in 'OpenAIR@RGU"NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, [VOL 39, November 2014 Abstract 1 : An increasing number of researchers stress the importance of the national planning institution's role with respect to promoting an "effective" decision-making process in terms of bringing about sustainable energy. Impact assessment (IA) procedures are seen as having strong potential in supporting environmentally conscious energy production. This article discusses criteria for sustainable wind power planning and compares the centralised planning systems for wind energy in two countries -Norway and Scotland -as illustrating cases. We ask the following: What key criteria should be present to secure sustainable wind energy planning, and what are the critical institutional conditions to fulfil these criteria? A review of relevant IA literature reveals four key criteria for promoting sustainable wind planning: (i) clear and integrated political priorities, (ii) stakeholder involvement, (iii) strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and (iv) stringent permission and assessment requirements. We also determined that critical institutional conditions exist that effectively promote sustainable energy production: (a) coordinated energy policy institutions, (b) legitimate planning procedures, (c) that SEAs are followed in the decision-making process and (d) statutory planning regulations.

How does the EU affect policy making by regional governments in Norway, a unitary nonmember state? We address this question through examining the impact of participation in the Interreg programme on Norwegian county councils' regional development policies. We examine forty-four acts of participation by Norwegian counties in Interreg projects, tracking their effects on both incremental policy changes and radical changes of policy direction. We find that most of the projects have resulted in policy changes by the county council and sometimes by other actors, and almost a third have resulted in a completely or partly new policy direction. Examining which projects had the greatest impact, we find that the county council's ability to shape the project according to regional concerns, especially in newly formed networks, is an important mediating condition. This could indicate that regional governments are using Interreg as a channel for policy entrepreneurship, building activities in new policy areas.

Denne artikkelen bygger på studien ”Barnehagens organisering og strukturelle faktorers betydning for kvalitet” (Vassenden m.fl. 2011), som tar utgangspunkt i de senere årenes utviklingstrekk og endringer innen barnehagesektoren. Betydningen av organisering og størrelse for barnehagenes daglige kvalitet både for barn og voksne utforskes i artikkelen ut fra både kvantitative og kvalitative data. Tre ulike barnehageformer står sentralt i artikkelen og belyses i forhold til pedagogisk kvalitet: små avdelingsbarnehager, mellomstore avdelingsbarnehager og store avdelingsfrie barnehager (basebarnehager). Gruppestørrelse, antall voksne pr. barn samt de voksnes mulighet for faglig utvikling analyseres. De mellomstore barnehagene kommer heldigst ut i dette materialet. De synes å være store nok til å sikre faglig utvikling for personalet, og små og oversiktlig nok til å ivareta trygge rammer for barna. m.fl.

No abstract