Özet:

With one of the most generous welfare states of theworld, Sweden invented the “Middle Way” between socialism and capitalism. Today, Sweden is regardedas the champion of social equality in the world. In this respect, studying the Swedish welfare state or “the Swedish Model” appears to be meaningful in Turkey, too. The first steps toward the construction of the Swedish welfare state were taken in 1890s,but “the Swedish Model” acquired its basic characteristics, which provided Sweden international reputation, after 1960s. In 1990s, the Swedish welfare state was restructured because of the impacts stemming from the economic crisis of the time, economic globalization and the European Union (EU) membership. Researchers generally agree on the fact that 1990s weakened the Swedish welfare state. However, changes that were made in this decade remained limited. Today, Sweden, which left the economic crisis behind, records both economic growth and budget surplus, and the way Sweden uses this budget surplus proves that Sweden did not alienate from the principles of “the Swedish Model”.

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