Kommunal självstyrelse - en myt? : En lokalhistorisk studie av Borgviks kommun 1861-1924

Sammanfattning: The hypothesis of this study is that the local government act in Sweden 1862 was an instrument for the state to keep its´ political influence on the local level. It did not open for local self-government. The swedish historians Dahlkvist and Strandberg description of the Swedish local government act support this hypothesis, as does the analysis of political scientists Pettersson and Söderlind. The general opinion that the local government act opened for local self-government does still exist among many swedish historians. This study had two aims. The first was to investigate the actual extent of self-government in Borgvik, a small municipality in Sweden during the period 1861-1924. The second aim was to investigate which groups in the society that had the power on the municipal councils and if the situation changed during the period. Both are important factors to determine if there has been any democratization on the local level and to know if there was any local self-government. The hypothesis has been verified. The local government act did not open for a larger local self-government in Borgvik. The municipal issues with mandate in local self-government were considerable larger in number before the introduction of the act than after. The national regulated issues were in the whole investigated period in majority in proportion to the local issues. Due to the suffrage system in Sweden the wealthy farmers and superior officials employed by the factory in Borgvik kept their power. It did not change until universal suffrage was introduced in 1918-21.