The Socioeconomic Cost of Crime

Sweden's image in the world: Still a ‘model’?

“…Hence their support too has come from previous supporters of various parties both on the right and the left (Rydgren & van der Meiden, 2018). This political support mirrors structural problems of integration: as Sanandaji (2020) points out, immigrants have much lower labour participation rates, partly because Sweden has a highly skilled labour force and recently arrived immigrants may need time to acquire the needed skills. The welfare chauvinism of Sweden's workers and of those most reliant on its welfare provision may thus be directed against protecting labour against the forces of economic globalization as much as it is directed at domestic issues of integration.…”

“…Sweden and the Nordic countries have been regarded as distinctive in social science research, as one end of the spectrum in the ‘varieties of capitalism’ literature, with strong social protections (Esping‐Andersen, 1990; see also Pontusson, 2005; Mann, 2013: 129–178). Sweden also has a distinctive image in the world at large, as a ‘moral superpower’ (Sanandaji, 2020: 41), not just in terms of domestic social progress but also due to its progressive foreign policies. Rom‐Jensen et al (2023; see also Byrkjeflot et al (2021) systematically examined the academic literature on the Nordic model from the mid‐ 1960s up until 2020 and found that the research foci have shifted over the course of time, with recent turning points particularly around the financial crisis of 2008/2009 and more recently still with the refugee ‘crisis’ in 2015.…”