Introduction: The Swedish Model Prof. Steven Saxonberg About Me •Born in Chicago •BA in political science and economics •Studied in Sweden 1 ½ years •Wrote BA in Econ on Swedish cooperatives •Wrote BA in PS on Swedish foreign policy during WWII •Later studied in former West Berlin (economics and business) •PhD at department of political science in Uppsala on the fall of communism in CE •Have lived in Sweden ”permanantly” since 1989 • > Main Research •Collapse of Communism and transition to democracy •Social policy and welfare attitudes •Family policy and gender attitudes •Social movements •Music/culture and national identity > When we think of Sweden.... • > meatball_sweden.jpg dala.jpg midsommar.JPG trekronor.jpg hives.jpg Ikea.jpg Nobel_medal_dsc06171.jpg abba.jpg Small Country, Great Importance •Music: ABBA, Ace of Base, Europe, Roxette (but actuallly there are also some good groups, but they are less known) •Industry: Krupp, Swedish match, Volvo, Saab, Erixsson, Ikea, Vattenfall, Asea, Farmacia •Sports: tennis, hockey, ping-pong, skiing •But most famous for its model of social policy, social democratic dominance and neutral foreign policy •Is one of the most studied countries in the world considering its size (only Israel is comparable) • > Focus of this course •Explaining how the social democrats were able to gain hegemony and support for its model of social policy •Explaining what its social policies actually are and how they influence society > Division into groups for the seminars •We will break you up into two seminar groups. •We must wait until the deadline for dropping the course first. > Seminars •Participation in the seminars is obligatory. •Anyone missing a seminar, must send in to their seminar leader a three-page written reflection on the reading that was required for that seminar. Write one page about each. For each reflection, write you OWN thoughts NOT a summary!!!! •At each seminar every student will hand in a list of FOUR questions based on one of the readings for that theme, which the students want us to discuss at the seminar. > Final Paper •Short paper at the end of the course •Reflect on one aspect of the Swedish model and discuss what are the advantages and disadvantages of the model •Compare Swedish with one other country and discuss what that country could learn from the Swedish experience •The paper should be about 4 pages (around 2000 words). •Can write in groups of 2. •Use an internationally acceptable form of notes and references •Can choose which system to use > Remember in writing your papers: •Scientific, peer-reviewed articles and books are best •Official statistics from the governments or international organizations •Reports from respectable newspapers and magazines (LN – not blesk, etc.) •Not unreliable internet sources, such as wikipedia!!!! •The use of unreliable sources such as wikipedia will lower your grade. •Remember to have a reference for every fact or thought that you get from somebody else! > Reading •I wrote ”appropriate chapters” in the syllabus because the books have not yet been copied by the IT personal, so I do not know exactly which chapters are for each seminar. (We gave them the books several weeks ago). •Will send e-mail with this info as soon as I find out. •But can use common sense in figuring out which chapters are ”appropriate” •Many of the best sources are only available in Swedish, so my lectures will not follow the literature so exactly. Also I will give information that is more up-dated than in most books. •The article for family policy is one that I wrote in Czech. If there are some foreign students, who cannot read Czech, I will add some optional articles in English. > If you fail your paper •I learned from the past course that students are capable of writing good papers if they want •But often are lazy and fail several times first •Do not believe we can actually fail them •If fail, get one more chance to send in a new paper by January 15. •You grade will be lowered by one level if you fail the first time. •Remember: less work means more work, because you can really fail! • >