Making Peace with the Union? The Swedish Social Democratic Party and European Integration

Abstract

The Social Democratic Party (SAP — Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetareparti) holds a unique position in modern Swedish politics. Its achievements are notable on several counts. It has been the largest and most influential political party in Sweden in the postwar period, and the best performing social democratic party in Scandinavia. The party governed for so many years, and with rarely any interruptions, that it was able to implement policies built upon social democratic principles (such as equality, solidarity and social justice — see Tilton 1990). In many ways, the SAP has been the closest yet to achieving what many have regarded as a ‘Scandinavian social democratic model’ (Einhorn and Logue 1989, Milner 1989, Petersson 1994). Part of the success and durability of the SAP can be attributed to the fact that it has incorporated a ‘broad church’ of differing political opinion and ideology and that the party has been responsive to demands for modernization in order to guarantee the party’s popularity amongst Swedish voters. Following these lines of reasoning, the continuing electoral success of the SAP in the 1990s is therefore an essential precondition for the survival of any kind of ‘Swedish model’.