Central‐local relations in Sweden and Australia: Power, responsibility and territorial equity in comparative perspective

Abstract

Different governmental arrangements have varying impacts on the equity of provision of public services. But these impacts are modified by the cultural‐political traditions of nations. In this paper we compare central‐local relations in Sweden and Australia in broad qualitative terms. We explore the concept of ‘territorial equity’ and employ a resource model of government power to describe central‐local relations in the two countries. In any society the relative emphasis given to the opposing distributive principles of the governmental and market spheres—equity and efficiency—will greatly affect outcomes. We discuss the different significant variables contributing to a degree of equality in service provision in the two countries and foreshadow changes ahead, with varying capacity in the two countries to resist moves towards greater inequality in the provision of essential public services.