En moderniserad kommunallag i spänningsfältet mellan politik och marknad

Abstract

Title: A Modernized Local Government Act between Politics and Market. Summary: A general change has taken place, which can be described as from political domination of society towards the societies domination over politics. This means, for example that the idea of competition in local government activities has become a dominating discourse. One important driver is the EU membership, but also national political reforms. Within this context a Government Commission (an expert committee led by a law expert) was appointed to suggest a modernization of the Swedish local government act. In the article it is discussed how the work of the commission was framed and how the commission took position within the interplay between the municipality as politically governed democratic institution and the municipality as an actors and arena for the market. The general conclusion is that the frame of reference support market before politics.