Decentralization Policies in Sweden

Local administrations in Sweden were organized for the first time in a modern sense in 1862. While local governments existed under a centralized tutelage within the unitary state system, they were turned into autonomous and autonomous institutions through local reforms in line with welfare state policies in the 1950s. In this period, local governments were seen as the strongest partner and growth engine of the welfare state and their powers and duties were increased in line with the understanding of the welfare state. As a matter of fact, with the new regulations introduced in the 1960-1970s, local governments were empowered to impose taxes at the local level, both politically and economically. Thus, the development of local governments is integrated into the logic of welfare state. This situation started to change after Sweden’s membership to the European Union (EU) in 1995. In this period, local governments, which started to adapt to the regional development and localization policies of the EU, were moved to the center of political discussions for many years. These debates, mainly on how to reconcile the EU’s logic of regional development, regional and local competition, and the logic of local government based on Sweden’s welfare state policies, included an effort to find a middle ground. In this context, the purpose of this study is to reveal the localization policies of the welfare state period and post-1980s in Sweden and the reflections of these policies on local public services and local government.