Ann-Sofie Dahl's Stockholm
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200005500209 |
| Published date | 01 June 2000 |
| Date | 01 June 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Ann-Sofie
Dahl's
Stockholm
SWEDEN
MAY
THINK
OF
ITSELF
as
the
self-evident
centre
of
the uni-
verse,
but,
to
the outside
world,
it
may
seem
a
geographically
distant
and
politically
rather
uninteresting
place.
The
exception
would
be
for
those
who
cherish
its
solid image
as
an
early
laboratory
for
the
cradle-
to-grave
political
model
known
as
the
welfare
state.
But
there
is
a
risk
that
even
they
will
find
Sweden
something
of
a
disappointment
these
days.
In
some
circles
in
Sweden
there is
still
considerable
fondness for
the
elaborate
state
interventionism
once
perfected
by
the
welfare
state.
Those
nostalgic
sentiments
are
now
creating
a
stubborn
resistance
to
the
changes
that
are
needed
to
improve
the old,
expensive,
and
not
very
efficient
system.
Sweden
is
still
governed
by
the
same Social
Democratic
party
that
has
been
in
power
for
most
of
the
time
since
1932,
but
the
Social
Democrats
have
had
to
leave
a
great
deal
of
their
former
ideological
rigour
behind
in
the
last
few
years.
Only
rather
brief
periods
of
non-socialist
government
have
interrupted
the
Social
Democratic
grip on
power.
The
four-party
coalition,
headed
from
1991
to
1994
by
Carl Bildt,
the
first
Conservative
prime
minister
since
1930,
was
undoubtedly
the most
important
of
these
non-socialist
gov-
ernments.
The
administrations
that
governed
the
country
between
1976
and
1984
were
certainly
less
successful
-
and
politically
less
courageous.
In
spite
of
an
ambitious
programme
for
change,
the
coalition
did
not
win
re-election
in
1994.
But the Bildt
government
left
behind
a
Associate
Professor
of
Political
Science,
Lund
University
Sweden;
Founder
and
Vice-President,
Swedish
Atlantic
Council
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring
2000
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