ALPHA. Demokratiskolan.se is a PROTOTYPE · Content review in progress
Demokratiskolan
The Local government card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 50 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaThe state & public administration
  • Centre of gravityThe municipality
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe municipal election
The state & public administration

Local government

Regions & Municipalities

Sweden is not governed only from Stockholm. The country has 290 municipalities and 21 regions with their own elected officials, their own right to levy tax and a self-government that is protected in the constitution. This is where most of the welfare lives: the school, the care and the healthcare. Whoever wants to understand Swedish democracy best starts in the municipal hall.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · school, care & local power · approx 45 %
  • Region · care & public transport · approx 30 %
  • State · laws, grants & oversight · approx 20 %
  • EU · rules that reach locally · approx 5 %

Self-government makes the municipality a power level of its own, not a branch of the state. The municipal election governs most of your everyday life.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe democracy of everyday life · centre of gravity
The regionHealthcare & the region
Central governmentThe frame-setter
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige), the elected officials in your municipality, plus the executive board and the committees.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the region's committees, elected in the regional election.
The Riksdag passes the Local Government Act and the special laws. County Administrative Boards and inspectorates carry out oversight.
What do they decide?
School, preschool, elderly care, social services, planning, streets and water, plus voluntary tasks such as culture and leisure.
Health and medical care, dental care for the young, public transport and regional development.
Decides the municipalities' compulsory tasks, the balance requirement and the state grants, but not how the tasks are solved.
Where are decisions made?
In the council chamber, open to all, and in the committees. The minutes are public.
In the regional council, open meetings and official documents.
In the Riksdag and at the oversight agencies.
Who pays?
The municipal tax, fees, state grants and equalisation.
The regional tax, patient fees and state grants.
State grants, general and earmarked.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Vote, submit a citizen's proposal (medborgarförslag), attend the council, start a local referendum initiative (folkinitiativ).
Regional election Vote in the regional election, contact members, turn to the patient committee (patientnämnd).
General election The general election governs the frame: tasks, money and the limits of self-government.
EUMuch of the EU's rules ends up in municipalities and regions, from procurement to water quality. Shaped in the European Parliament election.

Read the table by column to understand one level, or by row to compare the levels. The green level is the area's centre of gravity.

How it works: follow the decision

The case A citizen's proposal through the municipality
  1. Municipality

    The proposal is submitted

    In many municipalities you can submit a citizen's proposal (medborgarförslag) directly to the municipal council, for example about lighting along a dark footpath. A sheet of paper or a web form is enough.

    Point of influence

    Writing the proposal is the moment of influence in itself: concrete, well-reasoned and preferably with the neighbours' names behind it.

  2. Municipality

    The preparation takes over

    The proposal is sent to the right committee, where civil servants examine the cost, the responsibility and the feasibility. The preparation is the basis for the decision being lawful and durable.

  3. Municipality

    The politicians take a position

    The committee or the council decides. The meeting is open, the decision is minuted and becomes an official document.

    Point of influence

    You can often present your proposal, and you can always follow the meeting from the public seats.

  4. State

    The law watches in the background

    The Local Government Act governs the whole process, and anyone who believes the decision breaches the law can request a legality review in the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt). The court examines the legality, not whether the decision is wise.

    Point of influence

    All members of the municipality can appeal municipal decisions through a legality review.

  5. Municipality

    The administration carries it out

    The money is set aside in the next budget and the technical administration orders the work. Between the decision and reality there is often a procurement.

  6. Your everyday life

    The lamps come on in November

    The footpath is lit just in time for the dark. A proposal from a kitchen table became municipal reality in eighteen months.

The journey looks the same in reverse: what has been built came the same way, through the same decisions. Whoever knows where the decisions are made also knows where they can be changed.

Questions to discuss

  1. Do you know the name of the chair of the municipal executive board where you live, and does it matter that many do not?

  2. Which local issue would make you attend a council meeting?

  3. Can small municipalities manage the same mandate as large ones, or does Sweden need fewer and larger municipalities?

  4. What should the municipality get to decide for itself, and what should be the same across the country?

  5. If you submitted a citizen's proposal tomorrow, what would it be about?

Glossary

Kommunalt självstyre
The constitution's principle that municipalities and regions govern themselves within the frame of the law.
Kommunfullmäktige
The municipality's highest decision-making body, elected in the municipal election every four years.
Nämnd
A politically appointed group responsible for an area, such as school or environment.
Landsting
The old name for the regions. The name change was completed in 2020, the mandate with healthcare at its centre is the same.
Folkinitiativ
If ten percent of those eligible to vote sign, they can force the council to consider the question of a local referendum.
Laglighetsprövning
Municipality members' right to have the legality of a municipal decision reviewed in the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt).

Go further

Footnotes

1) This is an estimate of how decision-making power over the issue is split between the municipality, the region, central government and the EU, based on how responsibility is divided in legislation. A teaching guide, not an exact measurement.