Terese Birkeland

• Johnsen, Hans Christian Garman; Knudsen, Jon Paschen; Birkeland, Terese & Bersvendsen, Tore (2025). Regions in Europe: diverse paths to shared prosperity? In Dhondt, Steven; Zierahn-Weilage, Ulrich & Odriozola, Leire Aldaz (Ed.), Technology, Globalisation and Migration: Interconnected Challenges for Inequality and Skills. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035373642. p. 97–115. doi: 10.4337/9781035373659.00014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter explores the persistent economic and social disparities among European regions. Drawing on the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) framework, it investigates how institutional configurations and socio-economic models influence regional socio-economic convergence and divergence. Through analyses of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment, and education data from 2000 to 2025, the study identifies diverse regional development paths. It underscores the need for tailored policy approaches at both the regional and national/EU levels, complementing each other while addressing historical, cultural, and institutional contexts to foster shared prosperity and minimise inequalities. The findings advocate embracing regional diversity as a competitive strength while promoting institutional learning and cooperation across regions to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.

• Birkeland, Terese & Trondal, Jarle (2025). Stakeholder involvement in the European Union policy-making : a study of consultation regimes of the European Commission. Comparative European Politics. ISSN 1472-4790. 23, p. 966–986. doi: 10.1057/s41295-025-00429-4. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  To pursue its task as an open and engaged policy-maker, the European Commission (Commission) engages with a complex set of stakeholders. This study demonstrates how the consultation behaviour of the Commission administration reflects both the structural design of the Commission and stakeholder groups and the temporality of the consultation process. The study shows that these factors accompanied two conceptually distinct consultation patterns, coined consultative contraction and consultative detraction. Empirically, the study measures how Commission officials engaged with stakeholders when formulating the battery regulatory proposal of 2020. The proposal contains elements of both old and new regulatory provisions being merged into a single legal instrument where two Directorate-Generals (DGs), DG Environment (ENV) and DG Growth (Grow), share the responsibility of formulating the proposal that indeed encompass the entire battery value chain. The study characterizes the Commission’s consultation regime as a two-stage process, with an initial stage of consultative detraction followed by a stage of consultative contraction. The study moreover finds that these consultation patterns reflected the organizational design of the Commission administration, the organizational capacity of the involved stakeholders, and the temporality of the consultation process.

• Birkeland, Terese & Trondal, Jarle (2022). The rift between executive contraction and executive detraction: the case of European Commission battery policy-making. Journal of European Public Policy. ISSN 1350-1763. p. 1–23. doi: 10.1080/13501763.2022.2118356. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Providing policy solutions to solve across border societal challenges in Europe, such as electrifying the transport sector by facilitating a European battery industry, call for increased coordination among policy-makers. This article offers a novel study of the formulation of the European Commission’s (Commission’s) battery regulation proposal. In doing so, the paper makes two distinct contributions to extant literature: Theoretically, it outlines two conceptual models of executive governance – that of the Commission as a contracted and a detracted institution – and offers an institutional-organizational approach to account for conditions under which each of these models is likely to unfold. Empirically, the paper offers a case study of the process of drafting the Commission’s battery regulation proposal. Benefiting from semi-structured interviews, the study reveals patterns of executive contraction and detraction in the Commission. Whereas extant literature picture the Commission as an increasingly centralized and contracted executive institution, this study finds that executive contraction and detraction tend to co-evolve and co-exist.

• Birkeland, Terese; Gänzle, Stefan & Torjesen, Stina (2021). The Making of a European Union Strategy for Central Asia: Towards 'Normalization' in Foreign Policy? European Foreign Affairs Review. ISSN 1384-6299. 26(3), p. 377–396. doi: 10.54648/EERR2021033. Full text in Research Archive

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• Krogstad, Julie Runde; Rypestøl, Jan Ole; Djørup, Søren; Grove, Knut & Birkeland, Terese (2025). Kronikk: Tre råd for grønn industri i Agder - fvn.no. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Det argumenteres ofte med at Agder har naturgitte fordeler for grønn industri med kraftoverskudd og nærhet til kontinentet. Men er utgangspunktet egentlig så unikt?  

• Krogstad, Julie Runde; Grove, Knut; Djørup, Søren; Eriksen, Anna Maria Emelie Langemyr; Birkeland, Terese & Rypestøl, Jan Ole (2025). Industri, klima og kraft: 7 råd for et handlekraftig Agder. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Disse rådene kan brukes som et praktisk verktøy og inspirasjon i arbeidet med å styrke utvikling av grønn industri. Resultatet kommer av et treårig forskningsprosjekt utført som et samarbeid mellom Handelshøyskolen ved Universitetet i Agder og forskningsgruppen Klima, miljø og bærekraft ved NORCE.

• Knudsen, Jon Paschen; Johnsen, Hans Christian Garmann; Birkeland, Terese & Normann, Roger (2025). From Smart Specialisation to Creative Collaboration: Linking the Economic and Social Pillars of European Integration. Full text in Research Archive
• Fässler, Bernhard & Birkeland, Terese (2021). Research and regulatory obstacles for stationary second use battery energy storage systems. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The global demand for electricity is rising due to the increased electrification of multiple sectors of economic activity and an increased focus on sustainable consumption. Simultaneously, the share of cleaner electricity generated by transient, renewable sources such as wind and solar energy is increasing. This has made additional buffer capacities for electrical grids necessary. Battery energy storage systems have been investigated as storage solutions due to their responsiveness, efficiency, and scalability. Storage systems based on the second use of discarded electric vehicle batteries have been identified as cost-efficient and sustainable alternatives to first use battery storage systems. Large quantities of such batteries with a variety of capacities and chemistries are expected to be available in the future, as electric vehicles are more widely adopted. These batteries usually still possess about 80% of their initial capacity and can be used in storage solutions for high-energy as well as high-power applications, and even hybrid solutions encompassing both. The presentation will highlight potential applications for second use battery energy storage systems making use of decommissioned electric vehicle batteries. It shows ongoing research on second use battery energy storage systems within Europe and compares it to activities outside of Europe. The presentation will also identify economic, environmental, technological, and regulatory obstacles to the incorporation of repurposed batteries in second use battery energy storage systems and lists the developments needed to allow their future uptake. Especially regulatory obstacles need to be overcome. This will be addressed through assessing implications of EU battery legislation. In December 2020, the European Commission put forth their proposal for a battery regulation. The regulation proposal both updates the targets from the battery directive from 2006 in addition to regulating the upstream part of the battery value chain. In other words, the Commission seeks to regulate the entire battery value chain with this being proposed as the first product-specific regulation under the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan. Potential impacts this regulation proposal will have on the market for reuse, second life and recycling of batteries in Europe will be discussed.

• Krogstad, Julie Runde; Djørup, Søren; Grove, Knut & Birkeland, Terese (2025). Rammebetingelser for ny industri i det grønne skiftet. NORCE Research AS. ISSN 9788284084039. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Hvordan kan Agder ta en posisjon og ledende rolle i grønn næringsutvikling? For å utvikle konkurransekraft og verdiskapning i det grønne skiftet må aktørene stå samlet om felles initiativ og videreutvikle fylkeskommunen som koordinerende ledd; sikre kompetanseutvikling, eksogene vekstimpulser og samarbeid mellom ny og eksisterende industri; og ta strategiske langsiktige grep for å bedre den regionale energibalansen.

• Knudsen, Jon Paschen; Birkeland, Terese; Bersvendsen, Tore; Normann, Roger; Johnsen, Hans Christian Garmann & Mølland, Eirin (2024). Report: D6.4: Patterns of divergence and convergence, distribution and institutional capacity Parts I and II. Gi-NI EU project. Full text in Research Archive
• Birkeland, Terese (2024). European Commission Battery Policy-Making. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788284272269. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Grand societal challenges necessitate cross-sectoral and cross-border policy solutions, highlighting the imperative for coordination and participation of public administrative bodies across sectors and levels. Thus, this dissertation examines Commission policy-making as part of addressing these challenges. Given the Commission's unique authority and administrative capacity, studying its day-to-day functions provides insights into how the Commission is tackling such challenges. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on the Commission formulating its regulatory proposal on batteries, the initial product specific legislation proposed under the European Green Deal (EGD). The aim of the EGD is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. Three key aspects of the policy-making process are studied: internal coordination within the Commission, stakeholder involvement in the policy-making process, and the mobilisation of attention of an associated EU member, Norway, towards the regulatory proposal. By utilising institutional and organisational approaches, this dissertation argues that the Commission's formal structure and temporality shape its policy- and decision-making behaviour and subsequently the outcomes of the policy-making process. The findings contribute to organisational theory by illuminating how formal structure and temporality affects executive governance, the Commission consultation regime, and national mobilisation towards Commission policies. This dissertation comprises three articles. The first article examines internal Commission coordination, revealing that coordination and centralization co-existed alongside fragmentation and decentralisation. Therefore, even though the Commission has become more centralised in recent years, it still matters which Directorate-General(s) are involved in formulating policies. The second article explores the Commission administration's involvement of stakeholders when formulating the regulatory proposal, uncovering a two-stage consultation process. The first stage serves to legitimise the policy-making process, whereas the second stage functions as an instrumental part of the policy-making process. The third article investigates how the temporality and administrative capacity of Commission policy-making affect the Norwegian administration's mobilisation of attention towards the regulatory proposal. It finds that the rapid pace of Commission policy-making constrained the Norwegian administration's engagement with the Commission and limited cross-sector collaboration when preparing the national implementation. Moreover, the findings contribute to the literature on the internal coordination within the Commission, the Commission’s consultation regime and European governance of time. In summary, this dissertation illuminates how the Commission navigates complex policy challenges, offering in-depth insights into internal coordination, stakeholder involvement and the mobilisation of attention across administrative levels.

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