Regeringsformen och kommunerna i ett flernivåstyre

Abstract

The Swedish Constitution and the Municipalities in the Context of Multi-Level Governance

This article aims to analyse the constitutional regulation of Swedish municipalities within the context of multi-level governance. We argue that this context has led to an increasing discrepancy between the ’written’ and the ’unwritten’ constitution. This discrepancy has primarily been seen in the growing decentralization of welfare tasks to municipalities. At the same time, informal structures have been created at the central level to coordinate the governance of these tasks. In addition to highlighting this discrepancy, the article also explores the constitutional debate regarding those issues. We discuss the need to address the formal mechanisms of subnational consultations at the central level. When comparing Sweden to its Nordic neighbours, these mechanisms are relatively underdeveloped, especially when considering the role of the local government association.