Abstract

The historical roots of the Swedish welfare state are surveyed in an attempt to show how culture accounts for certain peculiarities of the ?Swedish Model,?; as compared to other welfare states like Germany or the U.S. It is argued that most of the socio?cultural patterns that have become firmly associated with the past fifty years of Social Democratic hegemony in fact are of ancient origins and are perhaps most aptly described as simply ?Swedish.?; From this perspective the relevance and usefulness of the Swedish experience for the reformers in Eastern Europe are also considered.