ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the interaction between two forces that shape politics in the contemporary Swedish system: Europeanization and regionalization. It gives a short description of the Swedish political system as a historical background. The chapter focuses on the regionalization process in Sweden by briefly describing the process and by focusing on some frontline experimental regions. It analyses the County of Jamtland, because it showed an early interest in taking part in the national project of regional experimentation, but has had continuous problems on the way. The chapter discusses the relationship between Europeanization and regionalization on the national as well as the regional level. The Swedish County Councils have been depicted as popularly elected, politically anonymous health care organizations with relatively weak politicians and strong professional groups and administrators. The chapter discusses three important characteristics of Swedish regionalization from the intra-national perspective: the experimental strategy, tendencies toward elitism and strong, diverging, institutional interests.
