|
Between 1634 and 2009, Finland was administered as several provinces (Finnish: ''läänit'', Swedish: ''län''). The provincial authorities were part of the central government's executive branch, rather than being directly elected. The system was initially created in 1634. Its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from twelve to six. This effectively made them purely administrative units, as linguistic and cultural boundaries no longer followed the borders of the provinces. The provinces were eventually abolished at the end of 2009. == Duties == Each province was led by a governor (Finnish ''maaherra'', Swedish ''landshövding'') appointed by the president on the recommendation of the cabinet. The governor was the head of the State Provincial Office (Finnish ''lääninhallitus'', Swedish ''länsstyrelse''), which acted as the joint regional authority for seven ministries in the following domains: *social services and health care *education and culture *police administration *rescue services *traffic administration *competition and consumer affairs *judicial administration The official administrative subentities under the Provincial Office authorities were the Registry Offices (Finnish ''maistraatti'', Swedish ''magistrat''). Formerly there was also a division to state local districts (Finnish ''kihlakunta'', Swedish ''härad''), which were districts for police, prosecution, and bailiff services, but there was reorganization such that 24 police districts were founded. These usually encompass multiple municipalities. Provinces governed only state offices, such as the police. Most services, such as healthcare and maintenance of local streets, were and remain today the responsibility of municipalities of Finland. Many municipalities are too small for a hospital and some other services, so they cooperate in municipality groups, e.g. health care districts, using borders that vary depending on the type of service. Often Swedish-language municipalities cooperate even if they do not share a border. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Provinces of Finland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|