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The Legacy of Olof Palme: The Condition of the Swedish Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Peter Walters
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Extract

THE SHOCK INDUCED IN SWEDEN BY OLOF PALME'S assassination was not translated into any dramatic political consequences. In the absence of any identifiable culprit or motive Swedes could do little more than speculate inconclusively whether responsibility might lie in a vendetta against Palme pursued by some foreign agency or, less likely but more insidious, in some unsuspected pathology within their own society. The assassination served no obvious political purpose. It could only be registered, therefore, as signifying that Sweden, no less than countries with a tradition of political violence, was subject to the ‘sleep of reason’. In a mood of sad resignation the country sought to resume normal politics.

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Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , 01 January 1987 , pp. 64 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1987

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References

1 Ruth, Arne, ’The Second New Nation: The Mythology of Modern Sweden, Daedalus, Vol. 113, No. 2, Spring 1984, pp. 53–96.Google Scholar

2 See Tilton, Tim, ‘Swedish voters reject neoliberalism’, Inside Sweden, 10 1985, No. 2, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

3 See for example, Martin, Andrew, ‘Trade Unions in Sweden: Strategic Responses to Change and Crisis’, in Peter Gourevitch et al., Unions and Economic Crisis: Britain, West Germany and Sweden, London, Allen & Unwin, 1984, pp. 190–359.Google Scholar

4 Ibid.

5 see Lundberg, Erik, ‘The Rise and Fall of the Swedish Model’, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 23, March 1985, pp. 1–36.Google Scholar

6 See for example, Elder, Neil et al., The Consensual Democracies? The Government and Politics of the Scandinavian States, Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1982.Google Scholar

7 See Gustafsson, Bo, ‘Conflict, Confrontation and Consensus in Modern Swedish History’ in Lennart Arvedsson, et al. (eds), Economics and Values, Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell, 1986.Google Scholar

8 See Korpi, Walter, The Democratic Class Struggle, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983,Google Scholar esp. Ch. 8, ‘After the Historical Compromise’; and Rudolf Meidner, ‘Our Concept of the Third Way: Some Remarks on the Socio-political Tenets of the Swedish Labour Movement’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 1 (1980), pp. 345–369.

9 Elvander, Nils, ‘The Future of the Swedish Negotiating System’, Inside Sweden, No. 2, 10 1985.Google Scholar

10 Lash, Scott, ‘The End of Neo-Corporatism? The Breakdown of Centralised Bargaining in Sweden’, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 23, No. 2, 07 1985.Google Scholar

11 See Lundberg op. cit. and Lennart Erixon, What’s Wrong with the Swedish Model? An analysis of its effects and changed conditions 1974—1985, The Institute of Social Research, University of Stockholm, 1985.Google Scholar

12 See Walters, Peter, ‘Sweden’s Public Sector Crisis’, Government and Opposition, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1983, pp. 23–39.Google Scholar

13 See, for example Heckscher, Gunnar, The Welfare State and Beyond, Success and Problems in Scandinavia, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1984 and Hans Zetterberg, ‘The Rational Humanitarians’, Daedalus Vol. 113, No. 1, Winter 1984, pp. 75–92.Google Scholar