SGI 2020 | Sweden | Key Challenges

Key Challenges

Recent Governments Experts

SGI experts on Sweden

Evangelia Petridou

Evangelia Petridou is Associate Professor in Political Science, affiliated with the Risk and Crisis Research Center at Mid Sweden University. Petridou’s research focuses on policy studies, with a specific theoretical interest in theories of the policy process, networks and entrepreneurial agency, while her empirical interests center on crisis and emergency management. She has published in journals such as Policy Studies Journal, European Policy Analysis, Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, Politics and Policy, and Policy and Society. Petridou is co-editor of International Review of Public Policy (IRPP).

Jörgen Sparf

Jörgen Sparf is Associate Professor in sociology, a founding member of the Risk and Crisis Research Center (RCR) at Mid Sweden University and Senior Researcher at NTNU Social Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He holds the position of director of the immersive simulation environment RCR Simulation Lab. Jörgen’s research revolves primarily around theoretical advancements in relational aspects of societal resilience at organisational level. The empirical fields are mainly: (i) crisis preparedness and management and social resilience, and (ii) policy processes and organisational relations. In recent years Jörgen has mainly published on governmental responses and policy-change related to the COVID-19 pandemic. These publications include articles in European Policy Analysis, Policy Studies, and Politics & Policy, and as co-editor (with Nikolaos Zahariadis, Evangelia Petridou, and Theofanis Exadaktylos) of Policy Styles and Trust in the Age of Pandemics: Global Threat, National Responses on Routledge.

Sven Jochem

Sven Jochem is professor of political science at the University of Konstanz (Germany). His main areas of research include empirical as well as normative theories of democracy, comparative welfare state research and the comparative dynamics of Nordic democracies. His most recent book is Die Politischen Systeme Skandinaviens (The Political Systems of Scandinavia), Wiesbaden: VS Verlag, 2012.

Mi Ah Schøyen (Coordinator)

Mi Ah Schoyen is Senior Researcher at NOVA Norwegian Social Research. She holds a PhD in political and social sciences from the European University Institute and works mainly in the field of comparative welfare state research. Her interests include the welfare mix, the politics and social consequences of welfare state reforms, intergenerational solidarity and the interplay between climate and social policy. She has published on topics such as the Nordic welfare state model, the eco-social agenda in Europe and cross-national comparisons of consequences of early job insecurity. She has experience from several large collaborative international research projects.

Perhaps the biggest challenge the world currently faces is climate change. Sweden has been a forerunner in environmental regulation, but the more permissive attitude of the current center-right minority government is a cause for concern. Radical policy priorities are necessary if Sweden is to reach carbon neutrality by 2045.

A pressing domestic challenge in the near future is the grip of gang violence in some urban areas. The Swedish system was not equipped to handle such high levels of violence. Its inability to control the situation has led to a punitive turn, with the debate focusing on retribution, long custodial sentences, and overcrowded prisons, rather than addressing the root causes of such violence. Gang violence has recently started to spread to neighboring countries such as Norway.

Politics in Sweden is challenged to protect its consensus-oriented decision-making system. Inter-party collaboration has been precarious and short-lived, and the empowerment of the radical-right populist Sweden Democrats has disrupted collaborative processes. The ability to compromise on divergent interests in contemporary political disputes is being alarmingly challenged. Affective discordance and social changes, such as increasing material inequality, have consequences for the ability of actors to compromise.

Further, the loss of neutrality due to NATO membership represents a significant loss of identity for Sweden, even though the narrative of non-alignment has primarily catered to domestic audiences in recent years. With NATO and recent geopolitical shifts, there is an amplified emphasis on preparedness and defense. This is expected, as Sweden is considered capable of affording the increased defense expenditure that accompanies NATO membership.

It is important not to lose sight of social policies or infrastructure investment. Healthcare is one sector that has not been generously funded, and the performance of the health and care systems in Sweden is under serious pressure. The performance of the welfare state in Sweden is challenged. The policy of numerous and far-reaching tax cuts, combined with demographic changes, the challenges of integration policy, and security policy obligations, has eroded the financial basis of the welfare state alongside the need to make necessary investments in infrastructure. One challenge for the future will be to achieve a fiscal and budgetary balance against the backdrop of these developments.

In terms of inclusion policies, the labor market trend is positive for people who have traditionally faced challenges in finding employment, such as young individuals or those born outside Sweden. However, integrating the high number of migrants and the increasing number of people with low educational qualifications into one of the world’s most agile and innovative societies will remain a challenge for integration policy.