Regionalization through a Democracy Perspective : a case study of Region Värmland

This is a study of how democracy is affected by regionalization. The study focuses on values related to the democracy; these values are representative, transparency, participation, anchoring of decisions and accountability. The case study for this essay is the Regional Development Council of Värmland case study of Region Värmland. 1997 a proposition was put forward the Swedish government about changes in responsibilities regarding four Swedish counties. It was decided that Kalmar, Gotland, Skåne and Västra Götaland County would be part of pilot project with extended regional autonomy. Region Värmland was formed at 2001 as a Region Development Council and was at 2007 transformed to a co-cooperative body. Region Värmland has an indirectly elected council, i.e. the members are not directly elected in the regions but nominated by its constituent members. The reason for choosing Region Värmland as a case study is because it is indirectly elected. The aim of this essay is to explore if becoming a region has affected the democracy and within the county and the democratic values, representative, transparency, participation, anchoring of decisions, and accountability. This is done by text analysis of regulatory documents which sets out the working procedures of the Region Värmland. The results founds is that some values of democracy have weakened at the regional level of governance. Representativeness is one democratic value that weakens of because of the indirectly elected council. But at the same time it have strengthened because it is in all cases the politicians that we have chosen and feel confident for that govern our region. Further the study found that value of accountability with this type of governance has weakened of that reason that we can´t control our politicians with threats or promises at the next election. Transparency, participation and anchoring of decisions are values that do not seem to be affected negative, rather positive as these democratic values ​​increase when the decision-making comes closer to the citizen. So the conclusions is when municipalities which work together with other actors in the form of public authorities, organizations, businesses and the public to jointly strive to improve the future of Värmland is positive from a democratic perspective