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The word statsråd
In the Instrument of Government a minister is called a statsråd. The prime minister appoints their own ministers and needs no approval from the Riksdag for them - parliament only votes on the prime minister. A minister need not be a member of parliament; one who is is replaced by a deputy for the duration of their time in government.
The title "minister" is an everyday name for the job, not a legal role. A minister is therefore not the head of a ministry in the way an agency director is head of their agency - the ministry is part of the Government Offices, a single authority serving the government as a whole.
The government decides together
Sweden has collective decision-making. Government decisions are taken at government meetings, normally once a week, and it is the government as a whole that stands behind them - not the individual minister. At least five ministers must be present for the government to be quorate.
Matters are first prepared in the ministries and reconciled with every ministry concerned, in what is called joint preparation. The minister presenting the matter is the responsible one, but the decision belongs to the government. A minister therefore cannot promise a decision alone - and the whole government carries responsibility for what is decided.
The ban on ministerial rule
A minister may not interfere in how an agency decides an individual case involving the exercise of public authority against a person or the application of law. The ban is in the Instrument of Government and is one of the clearest differences from many other countries: a minister cannot call the Tax Agency or the Migration Agency about a specific case.
Steering happens generally instead: the government decides on ordinances, on the agency's instruction and on the annual appropriation letter with assignments and funding. It also appoints the agency's director. But direction is given for the activity as a whole, never for the individual decision.
Who is who in the government
The prime minister leads the government and the Prime Minister's Office. Some governments have a deputy prime minister. Most ministers are responsible for a ministry, but a ministry can have several ministers with different areas of responsibility - and a minister may have no ministry of their own.
Each minister has a state secretary, a political appointee who leaves when the government changes. The rest of the ministry consists of non-political civil servants who stay regardless of government. That distinction is central: the politics is replaced, the administration remains.
How ministers are held to account
The Committee on the Constitution reviews ministers' conduct in office every year and can issue criticism - a review with no legal sanction but considerable political weight. Members can put interpellations and written questions that the minister must answer, and question time is held in the chamber every week.
The strongest tool is a vote of no confidence: if at least 175 members vote in favour, the minister must leave office. Directed at the prime minister, it brings down the entire government. A minister can also resign of their own accord or be dismissed by the prime minister.