Constitutional Problems of Territorial Decentralization in Federal and Centralized States – Finland

Decentralization in Finland means local government: administration through the municipalities. Under the Local Government Act, the municipalities enjoy a large autonomy. Finland being bilingual: Finnish and Swedish having equal rights under the Constitution, one may ask why there is no regional decentralization based on ethnic principles. The lack of autonomous rights is partly compensated by a few Swedish sections of National Boards and the Swedish Diocese of Borgaa. There is also a Swedish military unit for the training of Swedish draftees. The League of Nations decided the conflict between Finland and Sweden in favor of Finland’s standpoint. In the Autonomy Act the different areas of legislation are listed which belong to the jurisdiction of the Landsting. The Landsting’s jurisdiction mainly concerns administrative law such as police matters, health services, school and cultural life, trade and industry, communications and local government.