| Summary: | This essay examines if the centralized model for municipalities has potential so be a solution for local democracy when it comes to streamlining the organization without reducing the democratic legitimization. To do so, the essay examines documents from five Swedish municipalities which have transformed their organization according to the centralized model: Arvika; Sunne, Bengtsfors, Leksand and Tierp. The material is analyzed through a qualitative text analysis with the help of theories on democratic legitimization and ideals for organizing municipal management.The results show that the centralized model has the potential to be a solution for streamlining the organization while preserving democratic legitimization. The analysis concludes that it takes thorough preparatory analysis and distinct purposes for the reform to give good results, and that a wide perspective as well as political consensus on the organizational issue makes the implementation easier. Further the study concludes that a reform into the centralized model is not a ‘quick fix’ for a troubled municipality. On the contrary, to succeed with the reform it takes a lot of work and commitment from the whole organization as well as a carefully analyzed foundation and directives for the implementation.
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