Using an analytical framework based on Foucault's concept of governmentality and through unique case-studies, this volume explores the ongoing transformations taking place in the Swedish welfare state.

What has happened to the once famous Swedish model? Since the economic crisis in the 1990s, prophecies of the imminent demise of the universal welfare state have been common. Cutbacks in social benefits and mass unemployment seem to confirm these prophesies. The author - a citizen of Sweden, with a Ph.D. from Durham University, UK and a native of Iran - thinks differently. In this study he explores the role of social movements, demographic, economic and socio-cultural conditions, institutional change and "globalization" in the transformation of the Swedish welfare state. Several programs were indeed recalibrated, and a policy of cost containment came to dominate social policy-making, independent of whether the government was center-left or center-right. Although the favorable conditions in the decades after WWII no longer obtain, the downsizing of the welfare programs has basically followed an egalitarian and universal logic. There are cracks in the wall, but the Nordic welfare states have thus far survived and have shown themselves more resilient than most other social organizations in crisis. Social scientists and politicians alike will find this book highly relevant for their work.

Once heralded in the 1950s and 1960s as a model welfare state, Sweden is now in transition and in trouble since its economic plunge in the early 1990s. This volume presents ten essays that examine Sweden's economic problems from a U.S. perspective. Exploring such diverse topics as income equalization and efficiency, welfare and tax policy, wage determination and unemployment, and international competitiveness and growth, they consider how Sweden's welfare state succeeded in eliminating poverty and became a role model for other countries. They then reflect on Sweden's past economic problems, such as the increase in government spending and the fall in industrial productivity, warning of problems to come. Finally they review the consequences of the collapse of Sweden's economy in the early 1990s, exploring the implications of its efforts to reform its welfare state and reestablish a healthy economy. This volume will be of interest to policymakers and analysts, social scientists, and economists interested in welfare states.