The Swedish Welfare State: The History Of The Swedish Welfare State

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The Nordic welfare state is famous around the world and especially social democrats cite Sweden when they try to push a new policy in their own country. It developed during the 20th century and started with ‘folkhemmet’ (the people’s home). A home in a good condition was seen as the basis for the well-being of the people and the state. The history of the Swedish welfare state can be divided into five periods starting with the late 19th century until the 1920. Inspired by Bismarck’s reforms in Germany and several social problems in Sweden the workers’ question was widely discussed and the support for them grew. Several acts were established to fight poverty and to meet the different needs of the genders due to the male-bread-winner-system. Additionally, …show more content…

They are all known as the Nordic Welfare States. Especially gender equality and the well-being of the individual are seen as the main characteristics from a foreign perspective. But every Welfare State of the different nations does not fit the perfect social democratic model and has a unique policy. From a Swedish domestic view it all started to increase the living standard of the Swedish people and the number of children to secure the surviving of the state. Using the Danish Welfare State to compare to Nordic countries both started from different points. While Denmark had more agriculture, Sweden had a stronger industry. Nevertheless both countries’ welfare history can be divided into similar periods as described for Sweden before. The second and third period share the most similarities: increasing state intervention, greater social democratic influence, universal social benefits based on citizen rights with a strong public sector and a focus to solve family and gender disadvantages. The oil crisis in the 1970 changed the political landscape differently than in Sweden. The universal support was widely criticized and the power of the market grew again. The focus shifted from the individual well-being towards the duties of the individual receiving state benefits. Another difference was the early EU-membership of Denmark. The special Danish labor market can be described …show more content…

Unlike the other countries in Europe Sweden had a functional economy, no loss in people and a strong government. The unique long reign of the Social Democrat party stabilized the policy but most of the time they could only react to external developments. Sweden could start from a better living point and increase the living standard greatly. A strong state offered its citizen enough protection and developed the known international image of the Swedish Welfare State. Even though it does not exist anymore as it once did, especially Social Democrats from all around the world see Sweden as the role model for a strong Welfare State that offers benefits to every individual. The contemporary Welfare State has it ties in the Rehn-Meidner model but made developments into a neoliberal state like every other country in

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