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Demokratiskolan
The Social Contract card from MethodKit for Society and Politics
Card 96 of 128 · MethodKit for Society & Politics
  • AreaDemocracy & power
  • Centre of gravityCentral government
  • Points of influence3 on the journey
  • Decisive electionThe general election
Democracy & power

Social Contract

What we (should) expect from each other

You pay tax, follow the law and trust that school, healthcare and snow clearing will be there. That is the social contract: an agreement no one has signed but almost everyone keeps. The contract is managed on all three levels at once, and every election is a renegotiation.

Where does the power lie?1

  • Municipality · school, care & everyday services · approx 30 %
  • Region · healthcare delivery · approx 20 %
  • State · laws, taxes & welfare systems · approx 45 %
  • EU · free movement & rights · approx 5 %

The Riksdag writes the text of the contract: laws, taxes and welfare systems. But it is the municipality and the region that provide most of the content in your everyday life.

How it works: the breakdown

The municipalityThe everyday delivery
The regionThe healthcare promise
Central governmentThe text of the contract · centre of gravity
Who decides?
The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) and the committees: school, social services, streets and water.
The regional council (regionfullmäktige) and the health and medical care committee.
The Riksdag, the Government, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan).
What do they decide?
School, elderly care, snow clearing: the contract's everyday delivery, governed by laws but shaped locally.
The promise that healthcare is there when you need it: health centres, hospitals and 1177.
The Education Act, the Health and Medical Services Act, the social insurance systems and the tax system: the rights and obligations in writing.
Where are decisions made?
In the council's budget, the contract's local price tag, decided openly each year.
In the regional council's budget and the priorities of healthcare.
In the Riksdag, and in the agencies' application of the laws.
Who pays?
Municipal tax, the largest tax for most people. The tax rate is set by the council.
Regional tax plus central government grants.
The central government budget: welfare systems, the justice system and equalisation between municipalities.
Fastest way in?
Municipal election Vote on the tax rate, give feedback on the services, appeal decisions.
Regional election Vote in the regional election, give feedback via the patients' advisory committee.
General election Vote on the broad lines of the contract, appeal agency decisions that concern you.
EUThe EU's free movement gives rights across the whole union, and EU rules affect working life and consumer protection. 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 Your tax money travels through the contract
  1. State

    The Riksdag writes the terms

    The Education Act gives children the right to schooling, the Health and Medical Services Act gives you care and the tax laws set out what you must contribute. These are the contract's paragraphs.

    Point of influence

    The general election is the renegotiation of the big terms: taxes, welfare systems and rights.

  2. Municipality

    The council sets your tax rate

    The municipal council (kommunfullmäktige), the elected representatives of your municipality, decides each year on the tax rate and budget. It is one of the most direct power decisions over your wallet.

    Point of influence

    The budget council meeting is open to the public, and the municipal election decides who sits there.

  3. Region

    The region takes its share for healthcare

    The regional council sets its own tax rate, and the money goes almost entirely to health and medical care.

  4. State

    The money is equalised

    The Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) collects it, and the equalisation system moves money between municipalities with different conditions, so that the contract holds across the whole country.

  5. Municipality

    The services are delivered

    School opens, home care arrives, the water runs. When delivery fails you can complain, appeal and in some cases have decisions changed. If the decision concerns you personally, such as a refused benefit or a refused school place, you appeal it to the administrative court (förvaltningsrätt).

    Point of influence

    Feedback channels, user councils and the right to appeal agency decisions are the contract's everyday tools.

  6. Your everyday life

    The contract on an ordinary Tuesday

    The children in school, grandmother with home care, the bus on time. No ceremony, just a promise kept or broken, a little every day.

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. What in your social contract would you never want to negotiate away?

  2. When did you last feel the contract was broken, and what did it do to your trust?

  3. What is reasonable to ask of a citizen beyond paying tax and following the law?

  4. How much difference between municipalities can a shared contract tolerate?

  5. Who falls outside the contract today, and what would bring them in?

Glossary

Socialt kontrakt
The unspoken agreement that citizens contribute and follow the rules in exchange for security and services.
Skattesats
How many kronor per hundred earned the municipality and the region each take in tax.
Utjämningssystemet
The state system that moves money between municipalities and regions with different conditions.
Socialförsäkring
The state security systems for sickness, parenthood and old age, handled by, among others, the Social Insurance Agency.
Överklagande
Your right to have an agency decision tested by a higher instance, often a court.

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.