LONDON OFFICE The Chandlery, Office 609 50 Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7QY Tel:+44-(0)20-7721 8745 Fax:+44-(0)20-7721 8746 e-mail: feslondon@dial.pipex.com website: www.fes.de/london Sweden’s new social democratic model Proof that a better world is possible Robert Taylor Europe is searching for a new social and economic model able to cope successfully with the challenges of globalization. That holds true also for Great Britain, where the Left is looking es­pecially to Scandinavia for inspiration.“Compass” a political pressure group close to the Brit­ish Labour Party has recently published an analysis of the“Swedish model” and the lessons it holds for Europe:‘What Sweden and the other Nordics have achieved is of crucial importance in the much wider public policy debate of how the European left should respond to the com­plex challenges being imposed on modern societies by globalisation and the impact of com­munication and information technologies on the world of work. Their success as both social market economies and democratic societies continues to confound the fashionable dogmas and orthodoxies of prevailing neo-liberalism.’ FES is re-publishing and distributing this study as a contribution to the Europe-wide discussion on the future of the European social model. 1. Introduction: no end of a lesson – Sweden in the modern world It was fashionable ten years ago to talk glibly about the death of the famed Swedish Model and the resulting crisis that it brought for the future of that country’s social democracy. But over the past decade Sweden has undergone a remarkable economic and social renewal after a period of turbulence which saw relatively high levels of open unemployment. Once again, the country ought to become the subject of immense interest in debates on the future of Euro­pean social democracy in the age of globalisation. It is no exaggeration to argue that Sweden has created what amounts to a new model, which carries with it important lessons for the de­mocratic left everywhere. The deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation of economy and Robert Taylor was Nordic correspondent of the Financial Times from 1988 to 1992 and is now an adviser to the European Trade Union Confederation. He was labour editor of the Ob­server from 1976 to 1987 and employment editor at the Financial Times from 1994 to 2001. For more information on compass see: www.compassonline.org.uk