Sweden

Abstract

The Swedish national context offers a distinctive case from which to view the trajectory of agency reform. This is because organizational separation between implementing and making policy has long characterized the administrative features of the Swedish State. Swedish agencies have not been recently created, but rather have had a long history as structurally separate and independent bodies from Swedish departementen. Far from justifications about efficiency or performance, this characteristic of the Swedish administration has evolved from historical events and political arguments about the separation of powers, bureaucratic neutrality and state continuity (Andersson, 2001). Even the term ‘agency’ is not exactly an accurate translation of the Swedish title of these independent bodies. Rather, this title myndigheter is more akin to the English term ‘authority’¹ — though even Swedish commentators have adopted the term ‘agency’ in their (recent) contributions to international discussions (Larsson, 2001; OECD, 2002b; Pierre, 1995).