administrationsform

Administrationsform is a legal and political term used in several Scandinavian languages to denote the form or structure of public administration within a state. It describes how government powers are organized, how the civil service is arranged, and how administrative tasks are distributed between central authorities and subordinate units. The concept encompasses both the vertical division of authority among national, regional, and local levels and the horizontal organization of ministries, agencies, and public bodies.

The term is related to, but distinct from, regeringsform or regeringsformen, which concerns the form of government itself—such as the balance between branches of government and the sovereign arrangement. Administrationsform concentrates on the machinery of administration and the practical allocation of competencies within the state. In practice, it covers centralized and decentralized configurations, including unitary states with centralized administration and systems with regional or local autonomy, as well as arrangements for subnational bodies and autonomous administrations.

Elements that fall under administrationsform include the distribution of powers among ministries and agencies, the degree of cabinet versus civil-service control, and the administrative boundaries and competencies that govern policy implementation. It also touches on issues of accountability, efficiency, and regional development arising from how administration is organized across territorial levels.

In comparative and constitutional contexts, administrationsform is used to analyze how the administrative structure influences governance, service delivery, and the overall functioning of the state. See also Form of government, State form, Administrative division.