When interests collide – How politicians perceive hard decisions

Research on democratic innovations as a tool to reach legitimacy for policy decisions tend to focus on the experiences and perceptions of the public. In contrast, this paper draws attention to those actually making controversial policy decisions. Based on the responses to free-text questions of more than 800 local politicians in Sweden, we map and analyze how they perceive and manage the process of making policy decisions that might upset substantial parts of the population. Two delusively simple questions are in focus: In the eyes of those actually responsible for making them, what is a hard decision? and how should hard decisions be handled? The preliminary analysis shows a diversity of experiences and as well as expressions of normative ideals. Whereas a large share of the participating politicians express a fairly optimistic view on their role as representatives and their possibilities to gain public acceptance for their decisions by means of conversations or more innovative forms of interaction with the public, others focus more on deliberation and negotiation within the group of politicians. There is also a considerable group of representatives who appear to be disappointed, indignant, resigned, and even sad about the prospects of carrying out their duties. The paper thereby provides a more nuanced and practice-based understanding of the everyday reality and considerations of local politicians.