Summary:

In this article we address working across border in central government, focusing on the case of Norway. The first research question is descriptive: How much do civil servants participate in project and working groups inside ministries, across ministries, and between ministries and central agencies, and have there been changes over time? The second is explanatory: How can we use structural and demographic perspectives to explain the variation in cross-border activities according to individual and organizational features? We apply an analysis examining the effects of both individual features and organizational conditions of the ministries as a whole. The main results are that the collegial-cross boarder projects- and working groups tend to supplement the hierarchical ministerial organization and that cross border-collegial activities are due to both organizational conditions and individual features.