Swedish Model

"In this article we analyse the relation between the dynamics of economic growth and the welfare state using the Swedish experience as a case study. We defend three theses concerning the Swedish experience: that the deep economic crisis of 1990–93 constituted the definite breaking point for the accumulation pattern in force since the 1950s (and in crisis since the mid-1970s); that the new accumulation pattern eroded the long-standing symbiotic relationships between economic growth and the welfare state; and that the welfare state has suffered retrenchments and qualitative changes of great importance, which can be fundamentally explained by the transformations in the accumulation pattern. We conclude that the changes introduced in Sweden have continued to subordinate the welfare state’s main goals, giving priority to the new accumulation pattern.

doi: 10.1093/cje/bet049

This thesis studies the complicated relationship between postwar social governance and neoliberalism. It looks at urban planning in particular because this is a key field of postwar social regulation as well as a strategic site of neoliberal reforms. The thesis examines urban planning paperwork from the Swedish city Malmö dating from the mid-1980s until 2015 with a particular focus on Folkets park, a green space in central Malmö. The main argument is that social regulation is neoliberalized, rather than ‘rolled-back’. This process cannot, the thesis argues, be reduced to a rapid burst of neoliberal political decrees in response to an exceptional moment of economic crisis. Instead, Malmö’s social neoliberalism was created by a slow process of re-articulation rife with tensions where the contingent outcome of continually erupting contradictions profoundly shaped the bureaucratic formation that emerged. Social technologies of rule were in Malmö meticulously repurposed for new ends and neoliberal technologies painstakingly grafted onto established bureaucratic routines over the course of three decades. Neoliberal urban planning was in Malmö not only shaped by residual social regulation, but also by how neoliberalism provoked new contradictions and inherited remnants of the postwar city’s urban spaces. This study of Malmö invites asking further questions about the continuing role of social modes of governing in neoliberal formations and suggests that neoliberal governance might be less vulnerable to a return of social regulation than some argue.

The relative success of the Nordic countries is despite, not because of social democracy. Its main causes are the rule of law, free trade and social cohesion. There is a strong liberal tradition in the Nordic countries, starting with independent-minded farmers of the middle ages opposing royal abuses of power, and carried on by thinkers like Anders Chydenius in Sweden. While Sven Rydenfelt in Sweden, Christian Gandil in Denmark and Trygve Hoff in Norway were for a while voices in the wilderness, they are now revered by the young generation of Nordic liberals.

This article reports on the results of a study on men who pay for sex across Ireland. In presenting a detailed picture of the diverse group of sex workers' clients, their motives and attitudes, we debunk the prevalent stereotypes about men who pay for sex, as continuously used in the public discourse about sex work on both sides of the Irish border: we show that the majority of clients do not fit the image of violent, careless misogynists. We argue that these debates about commercial sex as well as the experiences of those who pay for sex are shaped and nurtured by the specific local context, by conservative Christian morals and the dominant sex-negative culture across Ireland. Finally, we argue that the criminalization of paying for sex which came into effect in Northern Ireland in 2015 and is being discussed in the Republic of Ireland will likely not stop the majority of clients from paying for sex and thus fail to achieve its aim to reduce or abolish sex work.

La Tesis ofrece un análisis de la evolución del Estado de bienestar en Suecia desde sus orígenes hasta 2006 adoptando un enfoque de economía política que aborde las interrelaciones entre dicho Estado de bienestar, la dinámica de crecimiento y el marco político-social. Está divida en dos partes, de manera que en la primera se examinan los factores que explican el elevado grado de desarrollo alcanzado por el Estado de bienestar en dicho país y las ventajas que ello reportó a la clase trabajadora. En la segunda parte se abordan las reformas aplicadas desde los años ochenta y sus efectos sobre las condiciones de vida de los trabajadores. Ambas partes concluyen con una evaluación cuantitativa de cada período utilizando como referencia los propios objetivos del Estado de bienestar, a saber, favorecer el pleno empleo, mejorar el nivel de vida de la población y reducir las desigualdades de todo tipo. La investigación finaliza con una comparación entre los resultados de la primera parte y los de la segunda con el fin de valorar las dimensiones de los cambios ocurridos y sus consecuencias.

"Effects of the Sex Purchase Act in Sweden." A research report commissioned by the Finnish National Association for Women’s Studies. Centre for Gender Equality Information in Finland.

Suomen Naistutkimusseuralle laadittu raportti Ruotsin seksin ostokiellon tutkituista vaikutuksista.

Laatija: Niina Vuolajärvi
Työryhmä: Johanna Kantola, Anna Kontula, Minna Seikkula, Vaula Tuomaala ja Niina Vuolajärvi

Tilaaja: Suomen Naistutkimuksen seura, syyskokous 2013
Valmistumisaika- ja paikka: Syyskuu 2013, Helsinki

In this paper we will make a long-term analysis of the evolution of the Swedish welfare state. We will look for an explanation of that evolution using a systemic approach. That is to say, our approach will consider the interrelations between economic growth (EG), the socio-political institutional framework (IF) and the welfare state (WS) − understood as a set of institutions embracing the labour market and its regulation, the tax system and the so-called social wage − in order to find the main variables that explain its evolution. We will show that expansive phase of the Swedish welfare state can be explained by the symbiotic relationships developed in the interaction of WS-EG-IF; whereas the period of  welfare state retrenchment is a result of the changes operated in the socio-political (IF) and economic (EG) bases on which it was based.

Sociologiska institutionen, Lunds universitet 27 maj 2011. Foto: Anders Kjellberg Anders Kjellbergs skrifter om facklig organisering, arbetsgivar-organisationer, partsrelationer, den svenska modellen, kollektivavtal, a-kassa, arbetskraftsmigration mm Anders Kjellberg's publications on trade unions, employers' associations, industrial relations, collective agreements, the Swedish model, the Swedish Ghent System, labour migration, etc Se också Nyhetsarkiv (News Archive): fack, arbetsgivare, kollektivavtal, partsrelationer, svenska modellen, a-kassan, arbetskraftsmigration mm, 1978-2019:

"This chapter attempts to make a theoretical contribution to the sociolinguistic study of English in the contexts of Scandinavian nation-states. In particular, this aims at focusing attention on the language ideologies underpinning discourses about the “threat” from English. The chapter presents a Bourdieusian historicist approach to language policy, by drawing on the key concepts field, habitus and capital. These concepts are extended with a number of conceptual tools more recently developed within linguistic anthropology, such as language ideology, indexicality and entextualization. Taking the Swedish field (Bourdieu 1996) of language planning as the key sociological object of study, the chapter contextualizes the notion of “domain loss” historically. This approach aims at making sense of the “logics of practice” that constitute agents’ strivings to defend Swedish in the era of globalization. It is claimed that the social history of domain loss cannot be accounted for by focusing only on discourses about English; its genesis must be contemplated in relation to other crossing discourses (Foucault 1972). The field’s metalinguistic discourses on English are thus examined vis-à-vis other societal discourses that have directed the politics of language. Notably, domain loss was entextualized at the same time as the discussion about the EU membership was intensified. From this vantage point, the safeguarding of the Swedish language must be viewed in the same light as the safeguarding of the autonomy of Sweden, and an accompanying aversion among the agents for the cultural-political indexicalities of English. Moreover, discourses about minority languages have directed the politics of language also with regards to the position of Swedish contra English. As an interest-laden representation of a linguistic problem, domain loss may then be under¬stood as a way of handling globalization processes in which the role of the state is set in flux, opening up linguistic markets beyond the control of the nation-state. From its launch, it has served to establish discourses about threats to the nation-state language regime, which is here interpreted as part of a strategy to defend a market where agents themselves have invested their capital. Thus, the notion of domain loss is here contemplated as a product of the relation between agents’ habitus and the field.

Key words: field, language planning, domain loss, language ideology, indexicality, entextualization
"

International migration and migrants have long been among the most debated topics in Europe and around the globe. How do immigrant policies differ between different nation-states? How are migrants and refugees met? Conflicting opinions on migration are not new. History gives ample examples of varying solutions and views.

In Reaching a State of Hope, the authors shed new light on refugee and labour immigration to twentieth-century Sweden. They focus on themes such as refugee policies, and refugee relief and reception. The discourse on the relation between refugees, labour migration, immigration, and the trade unions is another focus of this anthology. The essays are set against the background of the Swedish welfare state, from its first emergence before the Second World War until the 1990s. In 1930, Sweden had a population where only a fragment had foreign backgrounds, but seventy years later it had become a country of notable immigration.

This is the first time historians have taken up the challenge of presenting the Swedish experience to an international audience, with distinguished Swedish and international historians collaborating to put the Swedish case into a European context. Reaching a State of Hope is a significant contribution to the field of European migration history, and will make invaluable reading for scholars of history as well as anyone interested in migration politics and issues related to international migration and welfare states.

Contributors: Klas Åmark, Mikael Byström, Frank Caestecker, Pär Frohnert, Christina Johansson, Jesper Johansson, Georg Kreis, Karin Kvist Geverts, Attila Lajos, Paul A. Levine, Louise London, Cecilia Notini Burch, Pontus Rudberg, Johan Svanberg, Malin Thor Thureby, Zeki Yalcin.

This study presents the main features of the Swedish approach for resolving the banking crisis of 1991-93 by condensing them into seven policy lessons. The main features of the Swedish approach to the banking crisis of 1991-93 concern political unity, a government blanket guarantee, swift policy action,an adequate legal and institutional framework, full disclosure of information, a differentiated resolution policy, and the proper design of macroeconomic policies.

During the formative years of Swedish industrial relations, trade unions and employers were left to themselves to regulate the relations between them. Several circumstances promoted such self-regulation, among them the nonrepressive character of the Swedish state and the fact that the Liberals – until universal suffrage was introduced – blocked conservative legislation initiatives.  In addition, protests from the trade union movement helped stop for example a 1901 committee proposal on a law on employment contracts aimed to curb strikes.  Due to the relative absence of legislation the labour market parties had to rely to their own strength during strikes and lockouts; these actions sometimes escalated into huge conflicts, and in 1905 and – in 1906 after threat of a big lockout – resulted in principally important compromises. Still, in the 1930s Sweden had a high rate of conflicts from an international perspective, but this time a basic agreement – the 1938 Saltsjöbaden Agreement – came about after peaceful negotiations between the
blue-collar confederation LO and the employer confederation SAF. Under the threat of state regulation, the labour market parties found they had a common interest in self-regulation. In this contribution I highlight self-regulation and state regulation in the development of Swedish industrial relations, with views towards some other countries. The first time I used the concept of self-regulation was in a conference paper (1990), where I discussed state regulation versus selfregulation and the combination of centralization and decentralization in the Swedish model of industrial relations. These two dimensions can in turn be combined into a four-field table. At the end of the contribution I discuss advantages and disadvantages of selfregulation on the basis of an article by Ann Numhauser-Henning. First I discuss unilateral self-regulation on the part of employers and trade unions, and then move on to bipartite self-regulation and combinations of state regulation and self-regulation

From the late 1970s to the early 1990s Sweden diverted from the rest of Western Europe. The employment rate was high and unemployment was kept very low. But in the early 1990s unemployment started to rise also in Sweden. In this paper the worsened situation for low educated in general, and youth in particular, are related to two institutional factors: a changed organisation of vocational education in upper secondary schooling and changes in labour market policy, where changes in vocational education is understood as a cause and changes in labour market policy as an effect of rising obstacles for low educated. Of course, there are several other factors that have to be considered in order to get the full picture, but reforms in the upper secondary school system as well as in labour market policy are of great interest as they can be apprehended as parts of broader changes in the traditional Swedish labour market model. Studies of changes in the Swedish model can also be seen as part of...

This article reports on the results of a study on men who pay for sex across Ireland. In presenting a detailed picture of the diverse group of sex workers' clients, their motives and attitudes, we debunk the prevalent stereotypes about men who pay for sex, as continuously used in the public discourse about sex work on both sides of the Irish border: we show that the majority of clients do not fit the image of violent, careless misogynists. We argue that these debates about commercial sex as well as the experiences of those who pay for sex are shaped and nurtured by the specific local context, by conservative Christian morals and the dominant sex-negative culture across Ireland. Finally, we argue that the criminalization of paying for sex which came into effect in Northern Ireland in 2015 and is being discussed in the Republic of Ireland will likely not stop the majority of clients from paying for sex and thus fail to achieve its aim to reduce or abolish sex work.

ABSTRACT. Economists have debated the issue of state inter-vention in the economic process in capitalist economies inten-sively for decades. Often, however, without considering the effects of state intervention on entrepreneurship. In this paper we undertake a critical analysis of ...

Sweden is home to remarkably many large, prosperous multinationals. We argue that this is partly the result of industrial policies that have been biased in favor of large firms, and an institutional setting where regulations and controls have facilitated investment abroad by Swedish firms, while impeding foreign direct investment in sweden. A particularly important feature of the institutional environment is that Swedish labor unions have supported Swedish investment abroad, but opposed foreign investment in Sweden. The paper ...