Images of Sweden: Past and Present Perspectives from Austria

For many people of different political persuasions, in different parts of the developed world, Sweden has stood as a beacon of political sanity and well-organized welfare arrangements. Its educational and health systems are perceived as well maintained. Sweden is both a globalized thriving market economy, and its welfare state. Furthermore Sweden"s role as an ethical diplomat affords the country prodigious international influence. As a former empire, it has cleverly found a role for itself as an international mediator in all manner of diplomatic disputes. How did this situation arise? How did Sweden become a model for countries whose population is so different and so varied? Has it been useful and pertinent? And is the model described above so very model? Is Sweden not quite what it appears in the imagination of these new utopians? Is there a gap between perception and reality? Is there a yearning of a different political order? What are the taboos of Swedish society? And where is Sweden headed? Is there perhaps even a new Sweden in the making? The texts stem from the seminar Images of Sweden, arranged by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for public benefit.