Municipalities of Sweden
|
Sweden's municipal borders |
The
Municipalities of Sweden (
kommun) represent the local level of self government in
Sweden. The current 290 municipalities form sub-divisions to the 21
Counties of Sweden (
Län).
The basic regulation of Swedish municipalities can be found in the
Local Government Act of 1991. It specifies several responsibilities for the municipalities, and provides outlines for local government, such as the process for electing the municipal assembly. It also regulates a process (
laglighetsprövning, "legality trial") through which any citizen can appeal the decisions of the local government to a
county administrative court.
Municipal government in Sweden is similar to
city commission government. A municipal council
(kommunfullmäktige) of between 31 and 101 members is elected by
party-list proportional representation at municipal elections, held every four years in conjunction with the national parliamentary elections. The municipal assembly in turn elects an executive committee
(kommunstyrelse) from its members. The executive committee is headed by the chairman of the committee
(kommunstyrelsens ordförande).
In the middle of the
20th century several municipal reforms were implemented, which successively and drastically reduced their numbers.
The last major reforms in 1971-1974 removed the remaining differences in government and privileges between cities and countryside municipalities, consolidated cities and countryside municipalities into larger municipalities, and abolished the formal term
stad (
city) altogether. At that last reform the number of municipalities was decreased from around 1,000 to 278. A few municipalities have subsequently been divided.
The cities often trace their history back several centuries, and are still colloquially referred to as cities. Some municipalities use the term "City" (Swedish:
Stad) when referring to themselves, a practice adopted by the largest municipalities
Stockholm,
Gothenburg and
Malmö. 13 municipalities altogether have made this choice, which is unofficial and has no effect on the administrative status of the municipality.
Municipalities are further divided into boroughs (
stadsdelsnämnder alt.
kommundelsnämnder). The existence of such divisions are at the discretion of the municipality.
The municipalities are also divided into a total of 2,512 parishes, or
församlingar (2000). These have traditionally been used as a divisioning measure by the
Church of Sweden, but still have importance for census and elections.
The municipality decides whether a borough is allowed to secede and form a separate municipality. However, the question of whether a new municipality will be created is at the discretion of the central
Swedish Government. It is recommended that the lower limit of a municipality be 2,000 inhabitants.
According to law, the municipalities are responsible for:
*
Social service*
care and
custody of elders, disable, etc.
*
childcare and
pre-school*The
public school system for children
*Structure and building issues
*Health and environment issues
*Sanitations and waste disposal
*Rescue service
*Water and drainage
* Order and safety
All other activities are voluntary, for instance:
*Leisure activities (e.g. for youths)
*Culture (apart from a public library, which is mandatory)
*Housing
*Power and energy
*Industry and commerce
The voluntary activities enables municipalities to distinguish themselves as the means of attracting inhabitants.
The municipalities in Sweden cover the entire territory of the nation. Unlike the
USA or
Canada, there are no
unincorporated areas. The municipalities in the north cover large areas of sparsely populated land.
Kiruna, at 19 446 km², is sometimes held to be the world's largest "city" by area (although places like
La Tuque, Quebec and
Wood Buffalo, Alberta can be argued as larger). At any rate, several northern municipalities are larger than many counties in the more densely populated southern part of the country.
*
Statistics Sweden (SCB)
*
Municipal elections in Sweden, 2002*
Swedish Association of Local Authorities - Official site
*
The Local Government Act in English translation (pdf)
*
Swedish Government - Official site
