Sweden: Towards a 21st Century Post-Modern People’s Home?

Abstract

Already in the mid 1930s Sweden was presented, in particular to North Americans but also in other parts of the Western world, as a “middle way》 between unbridled capitalism and totalitarian socialism. During the depression of the 1930s, to the proponents of a New Deal in the United States, Sweden and the political-administrative solutions adopted at that time in this country, fitted into their image of a better and more just society. In terms of democracy and welfare — thus, in terms of civil, political and social rights — Sweden became an example for other countries. At a time when most advanced countries were threatened by the prospects of authoritarian rule, the ethics of the social policies discussed and partly also adopted in this remote Northern European country received considerable global attention. However, it was not until the 1960s, after the demise of the Beveridge model in its native country, the UK, that the flower of the Far North fully blossomed. This institutional or universal welfare model has later also been dubbed a Social Democratic model of social policy. Here, it is important to emphasise that this moral approach to social policy had broad popular support from most sectors of society.

《What was accomplished in this small country in this period was one of the most instructive and civilising experiences … not the Keynesian but the Swedish revolutions》 J K Galbraith: A Journey Through Economic Time -A Firsthand View, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1994

This article was first presented as 《Challenges To The Welfare System: The Case Of Sweden》 at the 4th International Conference on Ethics in the Public Service, Stock-holm, Sweden, June 15-18 1994. A revised version was discussed at the SEEP-Conference 《Restructuring the Welfare State - Ethical Issues of Social Policy in a European Perspective》 at Forschungsinstitut für Philosophie Hannover, Germany, 8– September 1995.1 would like to thank the participants at this meeting for constructive comments and criticisms, in particular its main organizers Peter Koslowski and Andreas F0llesdal.