ABSTRACT
Studies have shown that all Swedish municipalities are involved in cooperation with other municipalities, most frequently in soft forms like agreements. Often each municipality has full control of its activities and then joins forces with others on the margin. However, in this chapter it is shown that this situation is undergoing a change. Municipalities facing a new landscape are looking for increased cooperation as a means of dealing with challenges. Over the last decade a great number of new and jointly owned municipal organizations have been created, in many cases with shared responsibilities. These new and bigger organizations are created predominantly for reasons of strategic choice, capacity to deliver and the supply of competence. Cost-efficiency is no longer the major argument for joining forces. A more extensive cooperation in the form of joint organizations brings challenges for the municipalities. It creates new structures for activities and for decision-making, causing a number of new issues to deal with when organizing for municipal services. Experiences and implications of these issues are discussed in this chapter.
