Sweden

Abstract

The Swedish constitution distinguishes between two main kinds of governmental organizations: decision-making political institutions (local, regional, and national parliaments and cabinets) and public agencies. The public agencies include units of the government, such as the ministries, but they mainly comprise legally independent bodies, such as the law courts and national, regional and local administrative agencies (Type 2 agencies, see Chapter 2 in this book). Private enterprises, non-governmental organizations, academies and foundations (Type 3 and 4 organizations) are thus excluded (Statskontoret 2005). The following description of the Swedish administrative system will focus on the national and legally independent public agencies that report to political institutions on the national level, primarily those subject to the government.¹ These agencies belong to category 2 in van Thiel’s classification (see Chapter 2 in this book). There were about 289 such national public agencies in Sweden in 2009.² This figure does not include ad hoc committees and delegations that are set up by the government in order to investigate particular issues.