Social-Democratic and Liberal Features of the Swedish Socio-Economic Development Model (English translation of a 2012 Russian-language term paper)

Abstract

English translation of a term paper (Kursovaya rabota) originally written in Russian and submitted in 2012 at the Department of General History, Dostoevsky Omsk State University, Russia; supervisor: E. N. Efimenko. This is undergraduate coursework, posted as is; the abstract and keywords were added by the translator and are not in the original. Abstract: This paper examines which features of the Swedish model of social development reflect social democracy and which reflect social liberalism. The first part sets out the theoretical basis of social democracy, from Marxism through Bernstein to the democratic socialism of the 1951 Frankfurt Declaration, and identifies the social-democratic features of the Swedish model: the welfare state, high taxation and redistribution, a large public sector of social services, wage solidarity and active labour-market policy. The second part sets out the principles of classical and social liberalism and identifies the liberal features of the model: a mixed economy led by the private sector, a strong civil society, tolerance and individual autonomy, gender equality and the ombudsman institution. The paper concludes that Sweden's state structure fits a social-democratic pattern while its society lives by liberal values. The author was formerly named Marina A. Permyakova (the name on the original).