Abstract
The Swedish Model is often looked at as one of the most advanced model, integrating
aspects of social sustainability, and therefore, pointed as an example by many as far as
employment, flexibility and job security is concerned.
Even though one single week can never be enough to get to understand the finest
workings of any model, it allowed us to have an interesting perspective on what really
constitutes the Swedish Model, and how it faces actual challenges like the economic crisis, in
the perspective to get a deeper understanding of how our own model works, and what we
could learn from each other.
Talking with Swedish people, we found most of them were sharing a strong sense of
living in a society with a very identified and successful model. But what is effectively
constitutive of that model everybody seems to be aware of living in?
During this week of observations and lectures about the Swedish economy and
society, we tried to get through different types of questions. First of all, we wanted to really
understand the workings of that model, by for instance, comparing it to another Scandinavian
country like Denmark. Then, we focused on two particular aspects of it: professional gender
equality and immigration. Such a focus allowed us to point at a strong strength and at a very
questioning weakness of the model, which set the stage for a real debate on how the Swedish
Model could face the actual economic crisis. Eventually, stepping back on all those reflexions
and observations, we tried to understand the role played by national culture, versus the one
given to institutions in this model, to thing about the transferability of it to other countries
with different historical and economic backgrounds.
