Social Democracy, the Labour market and the Third Sector: the Swedish Case

The Swedish model's high level of consistence that links normative assumptions and institutional practices into an integrated whole, as well as its high aspiration level are probably unique. The article reviews the normative assumptions, and institutional features of the model with a particular focus on the role played by the goal of full employment, and the instruments of Active Labour Market Policy developed in order to achieve it. It is argued that the emphasis originally placed by the model's architects on individual employability and labour mobility, though pivotal for its initial success did, inadvertently contribute to the gradual growth in the ranks of the permanently unemployable in the later decades. Previously, the low degree of coordination between the public actors within the system, and the cleavage between the fields of labour market and welfare largely hindered the emergence of new public solutions, while social economy actors were kept at bay. The ongoing realignment of local government- and public sector institutions and tasks opens new scenarios, in which the diversity and high level of autonomy of public actors may provide the base for the emergence of new partnerships and initiatives in the field.