SWEDEN

officially Kingdom of Sweden, Swedish Sverige, or Konungariket Sverige country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in northern Europe. Norway lies to the west and Finland to the northeast, and a long coastline extends along the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea on the east. There is a shorter coastline along the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits on the southwest, and a narrow strait, known as The Sound, separates Sweden from Denmark in the far south. Sweden extends some 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) to the north and south and 310 miles (500 kilometres) to the east and west. The name Sweden was derived from the Svear, or Suiones, a people mentioned as early as AD 98 by the Roman author Tacitus. The country's ancient name was Svithiod. Stockholm has been the permanent capital since 1523. Sweden, with an area of 173,732 square miles (449,964 square kilometres), occupies the greater part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, which it shares with Norway. The land slopes gently from the high mountains along the Norwegian frontier eastward to the Baltic Sea. Geologically, it is one of the oldest and most stable parts of the Earth's crust. Its surface formations and soils were altered by the receding glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., the last 1.6 million years). Lakes dot the fairly flat landscape, and thousands of islands form archipelagoes along more than 1,300 miles of jagged, rocky coastline. Like all of northwestern Europe, Sweden has a generally favourable climate relative to its northerly latitude owing to moderate southwesterly winds and the warm North Atlantic Current. The nation has a 1,000-year-long continuous history as a sovereign state, but its territorial expanse changed often until 1809. Today it is a constitutional monarchy with a well-established parliamentary democracy that dates from 1917. Swedish society is ethnically and religiously very homogeneous, although recent immigration has created some social diversity. Historically Sweden rose from backwardness and poverty into a highly developed postindustrial society and advanced welfare state with a standard of living and life expectancy that rank among the highest in the world. Sweden long ago disavowed the military aggressiveness that once involved its armies deeply in Europe's centuries of dynastic warfare. It has chosen instead to play a balancing role among the world's conflicting ideological and political systems. It is for this reason that Swedish statesmen have often been sought out to fill major positions in the United Nations. At peace since 1814, Sweden has followed the doctrine, enunciated in every document on foreign policy since World War II, of nonalignment in peace aiming at neutrality in war. officially Kingdom of Sweden, Swedish Sverige, or Konungariket Sverige nation in northern Europe, located on the Scandinavian Peninsula with Norway. Sweden is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long from south to north and about 310 miles (500 km) wide from west to east. It is bounded by Norway (west and northwest), Finland (northeast), the Gulf of Bothnia (east), the Baltic Sea (southeast), and the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits (southwest). The Sound, a narrow strait, separates Sweden from Denmark in the far south. The capital is Stockholm. Area 173,732 square miles (449,964 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) 8,673,000. Additional reading Geography General works Axel Smme (ed.), A Geography of Norden: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, new rev. ed. (1968), is a broad survey written by local geographers. A wealth of information is found in National Atlas of Sweden (1990 ), a multivolume publication under the auspices of the Department of Geography of Stockholm University, integrating maps, figures, and text. Information specifically on Sweden is available from many irregularly published materials of serial character, like those issuing from the Swedish Institute: Fact Sheets on Sweden, Sweden in Brief, Sweden in Fact. Economy The Swedish Economy: Facts and Figures (annual), is one of the Swedish Institute publications; as are Daniel Viklund, Sweden and the European Community: Trade, Cooperation, and Policy Issues, trans. from Swedish (1989); and Gunnar Sjstedt, Sweden's Free Trade Policy: Balancing Economic Growth and Security (1987). More comprehensive and detailed analyses include Barry P. Bosworth et al., The Swedish Economy (1987); Pierre Frhling, Swedish Development Aid in Perspective: Policies, Problems, & Results Since 1952 (1986); and Staffan Marklund, Paradise Lost?: The Nordic Welfare States and the Recession, 19751985 (1988). Government and social conditions The government system is described and analyzed in Eric Lindstrm, The Swedish Parliamentary System: How Responsibilities Are Divided and Decisions Are Made, 2nd ed. (1983; originally published in Swedish, 1981); Ibrahim Ismail Wahab, The Swedish Institution of Ombudsman: An Instrument of Human Rights (1979); and Agne Gustafsson, Local Government in Sweden, trans. from Swedish, new ed. (1988). The dynamics of political background are explored in Gunnar Boalt and Ulla Bergryd, Political Value Patterns and Parties in Sweden (1981); and Mona Rosendahl, Conflict and Compliance: Class Consciousness Among Swedish Workers (1985). Concise surveys of particular political and social issues include Krister Wahlbck, The Roots of Swedish Neutrality (1986); Walter Korpi, The Development of the Swedish Welfare State in a Comparative Perspective (1990); Britta Stenholm, The Swedish School System (1984; originally published in Swedish, 1984); and National Board of Health and Welfare, The Swedish Health Services in the 1990s (1985). For the law, see Stig Strmholm, An Introduction to Swedish Law, 2nd ed. (1988); National Council for Crime Prevention, Crime and Criminal Policy in Sweden (1990); and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anders Bruzelius, Civil Procedure in Sweden (1965). Culture Central Board of National Antiquities, The Cultural Heritage in Sweden, trans. from Swedish (1981), surveys conservation and restoration work on historic sites and buildings. Informative historical studies include Mereth Lindgren et al., A History of Swedish Art, trans. from Swedish (1987); and Ingemar Algulin, A History of Swedish Literature (1989). Publications of the Swedish Institute cover numerous aspects of cultural life: Ingemar Algulin, Contemporary Swedish Prose (1983); Ingemar Liman, Traditional Festivities in Sweden (1983); Henrik Sjgren, Stage and Society in Sweden: Aspects of Swedish Theatre Since 1945, trans. from Swedish (1979); Peter Cowie, Swedish Cinema, from Ingeborg Holm to Fanny and Alexander (1985); Monica Boman and Bertil Lundgren (eds.), Design in Sweden (1985; originally published in Swedish, 1985); and Nils K. Stahle, Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prizes, 3rd rev. ed. (1989). Staffan Helmfrid History General works Broad surveys spanning the centuries include Ingvar Andersson, A History of Sweden, 2nd ed. (1970; originally published in Swedish, 1944); Franklin D. Scott, Sweden, the Nation's History, enlarged ed. (1988); Eli F. Heckscher, An Economic History of Sweden (1954, reissued 1963; originally published in Swedish, 1941); and Sten Carlsson and Jerker Rosn, Svensk historia, 2 vol. (196162). Early periods Interpretations of runic inscriptions provide a glimpse of the early periods of history in Sven B.F. Jansson, The Runes of Sweden, trans. from Swedish (1962). See also Mats Widgren, Settlement and Farming Systems in the Early Iron Age: A Study of Fossil Agrarian Landscapes in stergtland, Sweden (1983). Medieval times are studied in Thomas Lindkvist and Kurt Agren, Sveriges medeltid (1985); P.H. Sawyer, Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe, AD 7001100 (1982); and Svend Gissel et al., Desertion and Land Colonization in the Nordic Countries c. 13001600 (1981). Modern history Gran Behre, Lars-Olaf Larsson, and Eva sterberg, Sveriges historia, 15211809: Stormaktsdrm och smastatsrealiteter (1985), offers a broad survey of three centuries. Other period histories are Michael Roberts, The Early Vasas: A History of Sweden, 15231611 (1968, reprinted 1986), and Gustavus Adolphus: A History of Sweden, 16111631, 2 vol. (19531958); Curt Weibull, Christina of Sweden, trans. from Swedish (1966); Michael Roberts (ed.), Sweden's Age of Greatness, 16321718 (1973); and R.M. Hatton, Charles XII of Sweden (1968).Focus on the 19th century is provided in Roger Miller and Torvald Gerger, Social Change in 19th-Century Swedish Agrarian Society (1985); and Raymond E. Lindgren, Norway-Sweden: Union, Disunion, and Scandinavian Integration (1959, reprinted 1979). Broad topical analyses provide views ranging into the 20th century: Steven Koblik (ed.), Sweden's Development From Poverty to Affluence, 17501970 (1975; originally published in Swedish, 1973); Kurt Samuelsson, From Great Power to Welfare State: 300 Years of Swedish Social Development (1968; originally published in Swedish, 1968); Lennart Jrberg, Growth and Fluctuations of Swedish Industry, 18691912: Studies in the Process of Industrialisation, trans. from Swedish (1961); G.A. Montgomery, The Rise of Modern Industry in Sweden (1939); Herbert Tingsten, The Swedish Social Democrats: Their Ideological Development (1973; originally published in Swedish, 1941); W.M. Carlgren, Swedish Foreign Policy During the Second World War (1977; originally published in Swedish, 1973); O. Fritiof Ander, The Building of Modern Sweden: The Reign of Gustav V, 19071950 (1958); and Jrgen Weibull, Sweden, 19181968 (1970). Jrgen Weibull Administration and social conditions Government Sweden is a constitutional monarchy. The constitution, dating from 1809 and revised in 1975, is based on the following four fundamental laws: the Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act, and the Riksdag (Parliament) Act. All the laws have been subject to amendment. The constitution is based on the principles of popular sovereignty, representative democracy, and parliamentarism. National government The king is the head of state, but he exerts no political power; his responsibilities are ceremonial only. Succession is accorded to the firstborn child regardless of sex. The prime minister is nominated by the speaker of the Riksdag after consultations with party leaders and must be approved for office through a vote of Parliament. The prime minister appoints the other Cabinet members. The Cabinet is responsible for all government decisions. The ministries are small, and they are not concerned with details of administration or implementation of legislation. This is handled by central administrative agencies, whose senior officials are appointed by the Cabinet. In preparation of important measures to be considered by the government, the responsible minister normally calls upon a commission of inquiry to appraise the measure. The commission may often include politicians from opposition parties, representatives of labour, and scientists and civil servants. They produce a printed report that is sent to various agencies and organizations for official comments before it is presented as background material to government legislation. The Riksdag, a unicameral parliament elected by the people for three-year terms, is the foundation for the democratic exercise of power through the Cabinet. The parliament has 349 members; they must have Swedish citizenship and be of voting age (18 years) to be eligible for this body. Representation by party is in strict proportion to the national vote. A quota rule excludes parties with less than 4 percent of the national vote or 12 percent of the votes in at least one electoral district. The Riksdag appoints its speaker and deputy speakers and at least 15 standing committees, in which parties are represented in proportion to their strength. All bills are referred to committees; the results of their deliberations are reported in printed form to the Riksdag in plenary session. The Riksdag may call for a consultative (nonbinding) referendum on various issues; decisive (binding) referenda may be held on amendments to the constitution if demanded by one-third of the Riksdag. The party system has been relatively stable through history. Prominent parties include three nonsocialist ones: the Moderate Party (Conservative Party), the Centre Party, and the Liberal Party; and two socialist ones: the Social Democratic Labour Party and the Left Party (former Communist Party). The Social Democratic Labour Party is closely allied with the trade unions and has been in power for a considerable part of the 20th century: 193276 (except briefly in 1936) and 198291.