Interdependens för Sverige
Hur svenska politiker påverkats av ökad internationell interdependens
SwedenInterdependenceTage ErlanderIngvar CarlssonGoverningPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
This is an examination of how interdependence affects the behaviour of politicians and their ability to govern the way they want to. I analyze the memoirs of two Swedish prime ministers, Tage Erlander and Ingvar Carlsson to explore their experiences. I focus on how the increasing interdependence affects the politicians with regards to security, welfare, and financial policies. Sweden had a special position between Soviet and NATO during the cold war. This meant Sweden gave priority to it's neutrality policy during the cold war, compared to increased trade cooperation. I also see that the Swedish politicians pretty much disregarded the rest of the world in domestic welfare policies until about the early nineties. Then the forces of interdependence were so strong that the Swedish politicians had to take them into account and Ingvar Carlsson even aspired to adapt by using the interdependence to form a deeper cooperation within Europe where employment issues could be addressed on a European level. Sweden was also one of the last countries to abandon the fixed exchange rate, hoping to best the market's negative evaluation of the Swedish financial structure at the time, but it failed and Sweden had to open the economy up.