Municipalities of Sweden
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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).
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[edit] Foundation
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 and cabinet-style council government. A legislative municipal council (kommunfullmäktige) of between 31 and 101 members is elected from party-list proportional representation at municipal elections, held every four years in conjunction with the national parliamentary elections. The council in turn appoints an executive committee (kommunstyrelse) from its members. The executive committee is headed by its chairman, the Mayor (kommunstyrelsens ordförande). The mayor is one of the Municipal Commissioners, which often make up the presidium of the executive committee.
[edit] Burgomaster
As Sweden does not use the Germanic mayoral title of Burgomaster (Swedish: Borgmästare), Commissioner is often translated as Mayor, when referring to the presiding officer of the executive committee. The title of burgomaster is nearly always used when referring to municipal leaders outside of Sweden, making it similar with the terminology around the President of the People's Republic of China.
Before 1971, the government-appointed chief magistrates of the Cities of Sweden held the title of Burgomaster. The burgomaster was a judicial officer who presided over the City Magistrates Court, which, besides being the city's court of first instance in all civil and criminal matters, also held functions as an executive agency with supervisory powers over the city's political life, similar to the County Administrative Boards of Sweden. Municipalities without city status, rural municipalities, parishes and towns, did not have burgomasters.
When the swedish court system was reformed in the late sixties, most of the executive responsibilities of the courts were transferred to the county administrative boards, while executive power succesively became vested in the Treasury Committee (Swedish: Drätselkammare), which since its establishmant 1862 overtook most of the executive power from the burgomaster and the court. The committee was appointed, like the modern-day executive committees, by the City Council.
Some municipalities, like Lund, Linköping, Vellinge, and Gothenburg, has reinstated the title of burgomaster, referring to the chairman of the City Council, which makes it an equivalent to the anglo-saxon Lord Mayors. This is a result of the Swedish view of the council as the highest body of the municipality, where the chief magistrate is the natural head of the highest municipal body. One of few Swedish municipalities that dare to use the burgomasterial title on the presiding officer of the executive body is Solna. In Vellinge, the burgomaster is besides being speaker of the council, also deputy chairman of the executive committee. Two political parties, the June List, and the Swedish Liberal Party have declared themselves positive to reestablish the burgomaster title, and even introduce a system with elected mayors.
[edit] History
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.
[edit] Sub-division
Municipalities may further be 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.
[edit] Regulations
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.
[edit] Duties
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.
[edit] Geographical boundaries
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.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Swedish Association of Local Authorities - Official site
- The Local Government Act in English translation (pdf)
- Swedish Government - Official sitede:Gemeinde (Schweden)
