Open AccessSwedishness on Stage
Author(s) -
Carl Marklund
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
culture unbound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2000-1525
DOI - 10.3384/cu.3381
Subject(s) - welfare state , globalization , national identity , political science , stagflation , welfare , state (computer science) , identity (music) , economy , sociology , political economy , economic history , public administration , economics , economic growth , law , unemployment , politics , art , algorithm , computer science , aesthetics
Globalization, stagflation and economic uncertainty challenged the Swedish welfare model during the 1980s, driving renegotiations of state-market relations domestically as well as re-conceptualizations of Sweden’s place in the world internationally. This article addresses how a key media event – the 1638–1988 New Sweden 350th Anniversary of the New Sweden Colony in North America (New Sweden-88) – reflects these shifts. Drawing upon materials from the National Committee for New Sweden ’88 and various public-private Swedish-American foundations and initiatives as well as Swedish and US media reception, the paper argues that these renegotiations of Swedish self-identity in the late 1980s contributed in certain ways to prepare the intellectual ground for far-ranging reforms of the Swedish welfare model which followed during the globalized 1990s.