Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0348/03485.txt

Text File | 1991-06-27 | 13KB | 223 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03485}
$Pretitle{441}
$Title{Sweden
Swedish History in Brief.    Foreign Policy of Today}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Ingwar Andersson and Jorgen Weibull}
$Affiliation{Swedish Institute}
$Subject{sweden
government
swedish
social
sweden's
election
policy
democratic
parties
economic}
$Date{1988}
$Log{}
Country:     Sweden
Book:        Swedish History in Brief
Author:      Ingwar Andersson and Jorgen Weibull
Affiliation: Swedish Institute
Date:        1988

Swedish History in Brief.    Foreign Policy of Today

     Sweden's foreign policy since 1945 has been strictly neutral. When the
international situation became acute in 1948 after the coup in Czechoslovakia
and during the Berlin blockade, the Swedish Government took the initiative in
negotiations on a defensive alliance between Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
However, when Sweden insisted that this alliance should be not merely nominal,
but factually independent of the Great Powers, whereas Norway desired
co-operation with the Western Powers, the negotiations fell through. When
Denmark and Norway at this time accepted the invitation to join NATO whilst
Sweden declined to join, Sweden stood alone as the only alliance-free State in
the North.

     Neutrality and freedom from alliance have been the guidelines for
Sweden's foreign policy during the whole of the post-war period. Sweden has
nonetheless shown great interest and involvement in the work of the United
Nations, on many occasions taking part in attempts to solve disputes between
the Great Powers. The election of Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold as UN
Secretary-General in 1953 was a further indication of the country's
international commitment. Sweden has also been very closely involved in
efforts to bring about decolonization and grant former colonies recognition as
independent states. The country has furnished military units to UN missions
in the former Congo, in the Middle East and elsewhere. Swedish UN troops have
helped enforce cease-fire agreements in Cyprus and on the borders of Israel.
Sweden has also sought to help reduce world tensions and preserve peace by
means of humanitarian programs and a development co-operation budget for
developing countries which is comparatively large in proportion to the number
of Swedish inhabitants.

     The official policy of neutrality does not imply that Sweden has to be
neutral in the views expressed. Sometimes Swedish public opinion on foreign
policy issues has been firm and strongly expressed. This was true, for
instance, during the Vietnam War, when US policies were sharply criticized.
This led, amongst other things, to the temporary recall of the US ambassador
to Sweden and a period when the otherwise good relations between the two
countries were strained. There have also been sharp protests in Sweden against
the apartheid policies of South Africa. The 1973 coup d'etat in Chile had a
strong impact on Sweden, which opened her borders to many refugees both from
there and from other dictatorships in South America.

     Since 1980 the Swedish people and Government have also reacted against
the Soviet Union's military intervention in Afghanistan and its occupation of
that country. This reaction toward the USSR was further reinforced in October
1981, when a Soviet U 137 submarine ran aground outside the naval port of
Karlskrona-where it was not only deep inside Swedish territorial waters but
also in a restricted military zone closed to all foreigners. This and
subsequent violations of Swedish territorial waters by unidentified foreign
submarines (which, according to a Government-appointed study commission, came
from the USSR) as well as a flight by a Soviet military jet over the isle of
Gotland have strained Swedish-Soviet goodwill. These incidents have not,
however, directly affected official relations with the Soviet Union.

     Sweden's trading policy has been characterized by an endeavor to
liberalize trade. This policy has often been pursued in close collaboration
with Great Britain. Both countries were closely involved in the work to
establish EFTA in 1959. Although the Nordic defense alliance was not realized,
Nordic collaboration has been intensified by-amongst other things-the
Nordic Council (1952). Important results of the Council's work are that
passports are not required between the Nordic countries, a free Nordic labor
market was created, and a far-reaching co-ordination of economic and social
legislation has taken place. On the other hand, the plans for a Nordic customs
union which had been discussed during the 1960s and which aimed at a more
extensive co-operation than that which already existed within the framework of
EFTA, led to no result. The so-called Nordek plan submitted in 1969, which,
moreover, also aimed at far-reaching economic co-operation between the Nordic
countries, met with opposition, primarily from Finland, and was abandoned in
1970. Concerning the negotiations for entry into EEC in which Denmark and
Norway took part in 1971, Sweden declared that she did not intend to seek
membership as this would be incompatible with the country's policy of
neutrality. Instead, in 1972, Sweden concluded an agreement with EEC on a
gradual phasing out of tariffs.

Domestic Affairs Since the 1970s

     Tage Erlander, who served as Prime Minister continuously from 1946 until
his retirement as Social Democratic party chairman in 1969, was succeeded in
both posts by Olof Palme, who made no immediate changes in the composition of
the Social Democratic Government.

     In the election of 1970, the first to be held under the new one-chamber
system, the Social Democrats lost their absolute majority in Parliament but
remained in office as a one-party minority Government with the support of the
Communists. The next election in 1973 resulted in the loss of a few seats by
the Social Democrats and Communists (referred to as the socialist parties) so
that they had exactly 175 seats to 175 for the three non-socialist parties,
Center, Liberals and Conservatives (or Moderate Party, as they now call
themselves). The desire to avoid a similar deadlock in the future underlay the
subsequent decision to cut the number of seats in Parliament by one. The
Social Democratic Government led by Olof Palme remained in office, but the
parliamentary situation forced it to seek broad-based solutions in
collaboration with one or more non-socialist parties, most often the Liberals.

     The election in 1976 saw the non-socialists achieve a clear victory,
winning 180 seats in Parliament compared with 169 for the socialist parties.
This result spelled the end of 44 years of Social Democratic hegemony in
Sweden. A tripartite coalition Government was formed by the non-socialists,
with Thorbjorn Falldin-chairman of the Center (formerly Farmers')
party-as Prime Minister.


     The international economic recession triggered by the oil price hikes of
1973 caused a rapid increase in unemployment, which has remained one of
Sweden's most serious problems. The rapid expansion of industry and production
from the 1950s through the early 1970s had resulted in a steady improvement
in living standards. Since the mid-1970s the rise in standards has slowed
down and at times ground to a complete halt.

     The general political debate in Sweden has meanwhile turned to new
problems, such as demands for greater employee participation in
decision-making and increased democracy at the workplace, equal rights for
women, environmental issues and energy supply. The role of nuclear power in
Sweden's energy supply attracted great attention during the period 1976-1980,
and the resulting political tensions led to the collapse of the Falldin
Government in October 1978.

     The non-socialist tripartite coalition was succeeded in office by a
Liberal minority Government, with Ola Ullsten as Prime Minister. When this
Government, too, was unable to bring about agreement on the nuclear issue, the
political parties reached an accord in April 1979 to let the matter be
resolved in a national consultative