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The Success of the Swedish Labour Market Policy: the Organizational Connection to Policy *
Author(s) -
ROTHSTEIN BO
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1985.tb00116.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , public policy , public administration , administration (probate law) , organizational change , democracy , social policy , welfare , economics , political science , economic growth , market economy , public relations , politics , law
The study of public policies in the contemporary Welfare States does not give enough consideration to the character of the public organizations that handle the concrete implementation. Building on recent neo‐Marxist studies of public administration, this article examines the organizational connection to the ‘Active Labour Market Policy’ that was launched in Sweden by the Social Democrats during the late 1950s and that was exported throughout the OECD countries during the 1960s. The success of this policy was the result of a major organizational change in the public administration of the labour market in Sweden, which broke with the traditional bureaucratic mode of operation and established new principles of organizing public activities. This organizational change in the Swedish case is interpreted as an attempt to create a specific mode of Social Democratic cadre‐organization.