Question

If Sweden isn't Socialist, what is it? How would they each respond?

Answer 1

Is Sweden socialist or capital? This question has always found its place in political debates for a few decades. Now the United States presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has ignited a new debate on the question. Bernie Sanders dreams about democratic socialism as a vision for a better America. For a practical example, he points to Scandinavian countries like Sweden. Political commentators and students of politics became again vocal about whether Sweden is socialist or capitalist.

Socialism can be defined as the economic and political system under which the means of production are publicly owned. In a socialsit country the production and consumer prices are controlled by the government to best meet the needs of the people. At the same time, capitalism is a market-driven economy. The state does not intervene in the economy, leaving it up to market forces to shape the business, the society and its life.

Now if we apply both definitions to Sweden, it will be understood that it doesn't completely belong to these categories, but is a mix of both. We should know some historical background to understand what Sweden is exactly.

Actually, the glory days for Sweden in their economy took place before the 1960s, when they had a free economy, low regulation and lots of wealth, a system which is more aligned to capitalism. But while in the 1960s, the wealth creation came to a halt when it started to redistribute wealth. And by the mid-1990s, the country faced growing economic problems because it continued to redistribute wealth it wasn’t creating.  In 1994, Sweden began to work on reducing regulation, reducing government spending, reforming welfare programs, shrinking the government's economic activities. Sweden moved on this path for the last 24 years, which has brought them back to economic growth.

Now it can be said that Sweden is standing on socialist platform simultaneously implementing capitalist reforms. Some call Sweden a pro-capitalist nation. Some call its system a 'third way' meaning its not capitalism and socialism. But gone were the days it was called as socialist.