WILL SUCCESS SPOIL THE WELFARE STATE? SOLIDARITY AND EGOTISM IN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC SCANDINAVIA

In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, Band 32, Heft 1, S. 96-104

Abstract

THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CRISIS THAT BEGAN IN 1973-74 DEMONSTRATED THE VALUE OF THE WELFARE STATE EVERYWHERE IN THE WEST. IT CUSHIONED THE SHOCK FOR BOTH THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE ECONOMY, AND IT HELPED AVOID THE ABJECT MISERY AND POLITICAL EXTREMISM THAT FOLLOWED IN THE WAKE OF SHARP DECLINES IN THE PAST. THIS WAS PARTICULARLY TRUE IN SCANDINAVIA WHERE BENEFIT LEVELS HAD BEEN RAISED SHARPLY, COVERAGE EXPANDED, AND NEW PROGRAMS INITIATED IN THE PROSPERITY OF THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S. NORWAY ESCAPED THE ECONOMIC CRISIS BECAUSE OF ITS OIL BOOM, BUT DENMARK AND SWEDEN, HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE, WERE HARD HIT. YET THEY HAVE COME THROUGH THE CRISIS WITH NONE OF THE MISERY THAT AFFLICTED THE UNEMPLOYED IN THE UNITED STATES.