The Influence of the European Court of Human Rights on Norwegian Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Discretion

This study investigates the influence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the discretionary decision-making of Norwegian street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) in the context of child protection services (CPS). With Norway facing multiple ECtHR rulings concerning violations of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) regarding the right to private and family life, Norwegian child protection has changed its scope and orientation. The ECtHR rulings have primarily targeted restrictive contact arrangements and the lack of reunification effort, but never the legal basis or actual thresholds for intervention. Still, since 2019, there has been a marked decline in care orders, adoptions, and voluntary measures, with no obvious explanation for the apparent higher thresholds for CPS services and interventions. The hypothesis examined in this paper is that some answers to the observed changes may be found in the SLB´s exercise of discretion and in how the ECtHR has influenced perceptions of discretionary freedom. The study examines how these judgments have influenced CPS workers' discretionary practices. Drawing on survey data from 143 CPS decision-makers, the research examines whether ECtHR rulings have altered SLBs' perceptions of their discretionary freedom and decision-making thresholds and explores the dynamics of operational powerlessness and meaningfulness in shaping discretionary practices. The findings reveal that the ECtHR's critique of Norwegian CPS has influenced street-level discretion. Moreover, there is great individual variation in the Court’s influence on SLB’s perceived discretionary freedom and decision-making thresholds, with feelings of operational powerfulness and meaningfulness contributing to explaining some of the differences in perceived discretion.