ABSTRACT
The concept of the Scandinavian welfare municipality implied a homogeneous model of local government, subjugated to central policies. The Scandinavian welfare municipality is effectively integrated into the welfare state. The Scandinavian welfare municipality has normally been understood as an efficient but clearly non-autonomous instrument in the hands of the “social democratic” welfare state. Although having intense cultural and historical bonds with the other Nordic countries, especially with Denmark and Norway, Iceland has not built itself a welfare state comparable to the others in Scandinavia. Caring obligations which traditionally have belonged to the realm of the family - or actually to its female members - have become a major issue in Scandinavian public policy-making. Descriptions of the development of Finnish local government resemble the Scandinavian welfare municipality model which goes linearly from the traditional liberal local self-government to the rigidly state-directed municipality.
