ABSTRACT
Sweden is generally regarded as a country with little corruption, equal rights for men and women and a strong emphasis on democratic values. Still, the appointment of political representatives to the boards of municipal corporations occurs without consideration of these values. One step towards increasing our knowledge about the governance of municipal corporations in Sweden is to look at how current governance processes affect accountability in relation to municipal corporations. Therefore, and with the discussion above as a backdrop, this chapter will be dedicated to opening up the ‘black box’ of the party organizations and shedding light on what the process of appointing board members actually looks like and how this process influences transparency and the ability to secure accountability in relation to the political corporate governance of Swedish municipal corporations. This is in spite of the fact that issues concerning lack of transparency and corruption in municipal corporations have been raised over the last couple of years. In this chapter, the process of appointing members to the boards of Swedish municipal corporations is scrutinized, showing a lack of transparency in the nomination process as well as a lack of political responsibility when it comes to the overall composition of the board.
