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Local government in Sweden is usually classified as the northwest European type of local government, together with the local government systems of the other Nordic countries & GB. In the 1990s & the early years of the new millennium, Swedish local government has been especially susceptible to the ideas of 'new public management' (NPM). At the same time there has been a long-ongoing trend of increasing party-politicization of local councils. In this paper a selection of five local authorities are examined in order to see how party politics & party-politicization are confronted by the new organizational doctrines. It is concluded that in this respect the doctrines guiding local government organization can be characterized by three common traits: the legitimacy of particular interests is denied in favor of the common good of the locality; it is denied that conflict & competition between political parties perform any democratic function; finally, when it comes to the relation between politics & administration there is a common confession of the management-by-objectives doctrine. Somewhat surprisingly, these three principles guide organization & politics not only in those authorities most enthusiastically adopting NPM but also in the authorities implementing organizational reforms based on more communitarian principles & even organizationally conservative municipalities not even considering any organizational change. One interpretation of this contradictory observation may be that NPM concepts & ideas have also found their way into local doctrines that are based on quite different principles. Another interpretation is that there is a consensus tradition in Swedish political culture that can also account for similar results in municipalities not explicitly introducing an apolitical organization doctrine. 3 Tables, 66 References. Adapted from the source document.

Immigrants are underrepresented in the European political process, not only because they lack legal rights linked to citizenship, but also because they cannot exercise existing rights. This situation is examined for Sweden, where a liberal immigrant policy dating from 1975 granted extensive civil, social, & political rights to aliens, including the right for foreign citizens to participate in local political elections. However, voter turnout has been low, & has even declined over time. Survey data on different cultural orientations among immigrant voters in the 1991 local elections, immigrant representation in political assemblies, & immigrant association membership reveal that low electoral participation was related to individual characteristics, but also to social & institutional contexts specific to the refugee groups. Suggestions for encouraging political participation for immigrants are offered. 8 Tables, 34 References. M. Pflum

Recent years have proven formative for the Swedish administration as the disciplinary commission and committee on the Constitution consider proposals whose adaption will have a far-reaching impact on the nation's social organization. As the constitutional changes can impact significantly on government at the local level, research focusing on questions of local government structure is urgently needed. A major strength of local government is political leadership, which is the key to bridging the gap between democracy and management research. The authors note that the influence of political leaders at the local level is often greater than that of their counterparts in the national government. The direction of future constitutional change will determine the extent to which local government and its leaders can preserve their strengths. Adapted from the source document.