The aim of this essay is to examine whether there is support for the cartel party thesis in local democracy in Sweden (Katz & Mair 1995, 2009). To fulfil this aim, the study is done by conducting a case study, where the claims of the cartel party thesis concerning that political parties separate themselves from civil society and become part of the state as well as level of political conflict is reduced due to a perceived notion from parties that they become more similar to one another, are examined. The results show that there is indeed some support for these two claims the theory presents. This, however, does not have an apparent effect on the control over policy in local democracy in Sweden.