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Demokratiskolan
The Minorities & Diasporas card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 73 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaPeople & belonging
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionRiksdagsvalet
People & belonging

Minorities & Diasporas

People outside the majority

Sweden has five national minorities with special legal protection: Jews, Roma, Sami, Sweden Finns and Tornedalians. Alongside them live many diaspora groups with roots in other countries, organised in associations, religious communities and networks. Minority policy is central government, but the rights are to be provided by your municipality.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · consultation, service & grants · approx 35 %
  • Region · care & culture in several languages · approx 5 %
  • State · minority act & central grants · approx 55 %
  • EU · fundamental rights · approx 5 %

The Riksdag enacts the minority act and central government pays, but the everyday rights, preschool, elderly care and consultation, depend on the municipality (kommun). The general election carries the most weight.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe rights in practice
The regionCare & culture
Central governmentThe law & the follow-up · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the committees. All municipalities are to have goals and guidelines for minority work.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the culture and healthcare committees.
The Riksdag, the Government, the County Administrative Board in Stockholm, the Sami Parliament and Isof.
What do they decide?
Consultation with national minorities, information about rights, service in minority languages in administrative areas, association grants.
Interpreters and treatment in healthcare, regional cultural support, and in administrative areas contact in a minority language.
The minority act, the language protection, the central government grants and the follow-up of whether municipalities live up to the law.
Where are decisions made?
In the municipality's minority consultation and in the committees' grant decisions.
In the region's cultural plan and minority consultation.
In the Riksdag and in the reports of the follow-up agencies.
Who pays?
The municipal tax plus a central government grant for administrative areas.
The regional tax and central government cultural funds.
The central government budget: grants to administrative areas, language centres and minority organisations.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Take part in the consultations, apply for association grants, put questions to the council.
Regional election Consultation, views through the patients' advisory committee and the culture administration.
General election The general election shapes minority policy. The organisations are consultation bodies.
EUThe EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits discrimination against minorities, and EU funds support, among other things, Roma inclusion. 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 Sweden Finnish parents request preschool in Finnish
  1. State

    The law grants the right

    In administrative areas, the minority act grants a right to preschool where all or a substantial part of the activity takes place in Finnish, Meänkieli or Sami. The right applies whether or not the child already speaks the language.

    Point of influence

    The general election shapes the law. The minority organisations are heard in every review.

  2. Municipality

    The parents make the request

    A group of parents in a municipality within the administrative area request a preschool place in Finnish. The municipality is also obliged to ask all guardians whether they want a place in the minority language.

    Point of influence

    The request is a right, not a favour. Write to the municipality's preschool administration.

  3. Municipality

    The consultation applies pressure

    In the municipality's statutory consultation with the Sweden Finnish minority, the issue is followed up: how many places, which staff, what information goes out. The minutes are public.

    Point of influence

    The consultations are open to the minority's associations and often to individuals. This is where the municipality is held accountable.

  4. State

    The County Administrative Board follows up

    The County Administrative Board in Stockholm and the Sami Parliament review how municipalities live up to the law and report to the Government. The central government grant is meant for exactly this.

  5. Municipality

    The unit opens

    The municipality recruits Finnish-speaking educators and opens a bilingual unit. The queue fills quickly: demand turned out to be greater than anyone had thought.

  6. Your everyday life

    The language travels on

    A child singing in Finnish on the way home from preschool. A third generation's language, which was about to fall silent, was given new air by a law and a few stubborn parents.

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. Which minorities and diaspora groups exist where you live, and how are they visible?

  2. Why do just five groups have the status of national minorities, and what distinguishes their protection from that of other groups?

  3. What does it take for a language to survive in a family across three generations?

  4. How is the right to be different balanced against the pressure to blend in?

  5. What responsibility does the majority have for the minorities' opportunities?

Glossary

Nationell minoritet
Jews, Roma, Sami, Sweden Finns and Tornedalians: groups with a long history in Sweden and special legal protection.
Minoritetslagen
The Act on national minorities and minority languages, with rights across the country and strengthened in administrative areas.
Förvaltningsområde
Municipalities with strengthened rights to service in Finnish, Meänkieli or Sami.
Samråd
The municipality's statutory dialogue with the national minorities.
Diaspora
People who live spread outside their country of origin but hold together as a group.

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.