History of in and the World Semester: Fall 2016 Credits: 3 Location: Academic Program: European Humanities Major Disciplines: History Faculty Member: Madeleine Hurd Time: Tuesdays & Fridays, 14:50 – 16:10 Location: 1D508

Picture: Holger Ellgaard, 2008 (Wiki Commons, public domain)

Dr. Phil. Madeleine Hurd, Ph. D. Harvard University (Modern European History), Adjunct at Harvard, New York and City Universities, Assistant Professor University of Pittsburgh. Associate Professor Södertörn University. With DIS since 2015.

Description of course:

The course focuses on Sweden's historical relationships to the Baltic Region, Europe and the US. We will look at the Great Power Era, the poverty and mass emigration of the 19th century, the internationally famous inter-war Middle Way; we will then consider Sweden’s role in World War Two and the , as well as the current impact of neoliberalism and globalization. Our focus, throughout, will be on Sweden's international profile and power, and the influence of this, in turn, on Sweden's national identity and future.

The course approaches history from three perspectives: political, economic, and cultural. We have chosen three or four key eras. The course starts in the 1600s, when Sweden transformed the Baltic into a Swedish lake: the "Lion of the North" was a European great power. Short-lived, however: by the 19th century, poverty-stricken Sweden was sending much of its population to the US, establishing ' long-lived love for America. Fortunes improved in the twentieth century. Sweden's prosperous, social-democratic state and war-time neutrality awarded Sweden international moral authority. How did these strands come together during the Cold War; and how, today, have changes inherent in immigration and economic globalization influenced Sweden's international position and self-perception?

Learning objectives: • Acquire an overview of the most important events and processes in early- modern and modern Swedish history • Provide insight into European and global international relations • Develop an understanding of Swedish economic and political developments • Provide students with a sense of Swedish cultural development, including the creation of Swedish self-identity • Introduce students to samples of , as a means of illuminating past eras and mentalities

Field studies:

• Sept 21st, morning: Tyresö Castle. First built by the Royal Chancellor during the Great Power Era, this noble mansion has been the residence of the high-born and rich until the early 1900s, when it was transformed into a . More information: http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/en/castles-manors/tyreso-castle. • Oct 26th afternoon: Skansen and Nordiska museum. These are a nation’s classic attempts to recreate and celebrate its own “folk’s” past – increasingly, however, under the supervision of professional historians. For a preview, see http://www.nordiskamuseet.se/en and http://www.skansen.se/en/kategori/english. • A visit to Stockholm’s Museum of War (during class).

PS: The teacher will open a DIS website page in which discussions, pictures, sources, English-language comments from other countries’ newspapers, etc. etc., can be linked and shared. The best way to communicate with the teacher is via e-mail. All questions welcome! [email protected].

Evaluation:

In order to receive a passing grade, you must complete all of the assignments. Engagement in seminar discussion: 15% Three 2-page papers: 10% each, 30% (6 pp total) Midterm: 20% Final paper: 35% (7-8 pp)

“Engagement” is your responsibility! Be well-prepared by thorough reading before each seminar (usually, discussion is most intense during Part II of a theme). Be ready to summarize an argument, answer leading questions, and comment on what others have said. Come out from behind your computer, put your phone away! Above all, don’t miss classes. You will find them a very great help in completing class assignments.

Description of Assignments Written assignments should have a title, be double-spaced, 12 font with approximately 300 words per page. Students may refer to “Writing Papers at DIS,” “The MLA Handbook,” or a writing manual from their home universities. Just be consistent when using citations, footnoting, etc.

Two-page thought-pieces/papers. At intervals during the course, you will be asked to hand in two pages in which you give your thoughts on, analyze and discuss the previous two weeks’ themes. These are relatively informal, but must show that you have read and thought about the literature and class discussion. Remember to give these short pieces a title!

Midterm (about two-thirds through the course) The midterm will cover the articles and books we have read and what we have learned through class lectures and discussions (the subjects discussed in the two-page papers will be included). The midterm will consist of multiple choice questions (of keywords, concepts, relevant terminology); short answer questions to be answered in bullet points and two short essay questions (you will be given several questions to choose from).

Final Paper Students will write an analysis of a topic or theme covered by the course. The analysis should be 7 – 8 pages in length, 12 font, approximately 300 words per page with one inch margins. Here, you follow your own interests: pick an issue or theme that interests you and pursue it. You should refer to at least 2 outside sources; the teacher can recommend films, excursions, novels, newspaper and historical articles, which should be of use to you. Your analysis should include the following: 1. Introduction: presentation of the topic to be investigated and a brief overview of what you will be doing in your paper. You might, e.g., explore a specific theme, over time (such as “Sweden and war”); you might, with the help of literature, look more deeply into a specific era (for instance, “Sweden’s era of emigration”); or examine and analyze a specific theory (e.g., “The Middle Way” or “Swedish neutrality”, “Swedish identity”). Don’t forget to tell the reader what sources you are using! 2. Analysis: comments, discussions, comparisons 3. Conclusion

Be sure to list your sources in either a separate bibliography or in footnotes.

Teacher-student expectations I love to teach – to share my enthusiasm and curiosity about my subject (how did Sweden become like it is today? What were Swedes like before? And what does the world think of Sweden?). I have lived in Sweden, on-and-off, for 20 years, and have watched it change even during that short time. I hope that I can make students as fascinated with this herring-loving, may-pole-dancing, pine-covered, kingdom as I am; and will do all I can (in lectures, discussion, and feed-back on papers) to encourage all student efforts.

I expect students to join me! Do come to class prepared to learn new things, and question old assumptions. The readings are essential to the course; do think them through. I look forward to lively discussions. It’s perfectly all right if you are shy about speaking up in class: but do be ready to answer direct questions!

Reading list: (note: in several cases, students can choose between different readings).

Course textbook: Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden.

Articles and chapters of books: • Gunlög Fur, “Colonial fantasies – American Indians, indigenous peoples, and a Swedish discourse of innocence”, in National Identities Jan. 2016, 18:1, pp. 11-33. • Michael Howard, War in European History (OUP 1979), pp. 54-62. • Arnold Barton, “From warfare to : Sweden’s search for a new identity”, in Scandinavian Studies Fall 2005, pp. 315-326. • Orvar Löfgren, “The nationalization of culture”, Ethnologia Europaea No. 19, 1989, 20 pp. • Orvar Löfgren, “Know your country: a comparative perspective on tourism and nation building in Sweden,” in Being elsewhere: tourism, consumer culture, and identity in Modern Europe, eds. Shelley Baranowski and Ellen Furlough (1990), pp. 137-153. • Wilhelm Moberg, The Emigrants, (1995 [1949]). Excerpts. • Tom O’Dell, “Chevrolet … That’s a real raggarbil! The American car and the production of Swedish identities”, Journal of Folklore Research 30, pp 61-74. • Marquis Childs, The Middle Way (1961 [1936]). Excerpts. • Jonas Frykman, “Pure and rational: the hygienic vision. A study of the cultural transformation in the 1930s, the New Man.” In Ethnologica Scandinavica 1981, pp. 36-63. • Timothy Tilton, “A Swedish Road to Socialism”, The American Political Science Review 72:2, June 1979. • Sondra R. Herman, “Children, Feminism, and Power: Alva Myrdal and Swedish Reform”, Journal of Women’s History 4 (Fall 1992), pp. 82–112. • Gunnar Broberg, “Eugenics in Sweden”, in Broberg & Roll-Hansen, eds., Eugenics and the Welfare State: Sterilization Policy in , Sweden, and (1996), pp. 77-138. • Rune Johansson, “The Construction of Swedishness”, Bo Stråth, “Neutrality as self-awareness”, and Karlsson, “ as Politics”, in The Swedish success story? eds. Knut Almqvist & Kay Glans (2004), pp. 109-120, 147-160, 241-251. • Sörensen & Stråth “Introduction” and Alf Johansson, “Neutrality and modernity: The second world war and Sweden’s national identity”, in War experience, self image and national identity, eds. Stig Ekman and Nils Edling, pp. 1-24, 163-185. • Jenny Andersson, “Nordic Nostalgia and Nordic Light: the Swedish Model as Utopia 1930–2007”, Scandinavian Journal of History, 2009(34):3, 229–245. JSTOR. • Einhorn, Eric & John Logue. “Can the Scandinavian Model Adapt to Globalization?” Scandinavian Studies Vol. 76, 2004, pp. 501-535. • Pontusson, Jonas. "Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World." Futures of the Left, eds. James Cronin, George Ross and James Shoch,. • Johan Svanberg, “Ethnic Encounters, Narratives, and Counter-narratives,” Reaching a State of Hope: Refugees, Immigrants and the Swedish Welfare State, 1930–2000, ed. Mikael Byström & Pär Frohnert (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2013), pp. 190–208. • Charles Weston, ”Racism and multiculturalism: The Swedish response to immigration.” In: Racism, xenophobia and the academic response: European perspectives. Stockholm: Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, conference proceedings, 2001. • Sven Tägil, “Ethno-national conflict and cooperation in the ”. In: State and minorities: a symposium on national processes in Russia and . Eds. Veniamin Alekseev & Sven Lundkvist. Ekaterinburg, 1996.

Recommended readings (for, e.g., the research paper): • Uffe Östergård, “The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity”, in The Cultural Construction of Norden, eds. Sörensen & Stråth (1997), pp. 26-41. • Magdalena Naum & Jonas Nordin, Scandinavian colonialism and the rise of modernity: small-time agents in a global arena, 2013: “Colonialism and Swedish history – unthinkable connections?”, “Sweden and America; Sweden in Delaware Valley: every-day life and identities in ”, “Sweden Borderland in the Middle: The Delaware Colony on the Atlantic Coast”, “There and Back Again – The Material Culture of New Sweden”. • Henningsen, “The Swedish Construction of Nordic Identity” in War experience, self image and national identity, eds. Stig Ekman and Nils Edling, pp. 91-120. • Andreas Marklund, “The Manly Sacrifice: Martial Manliness and Patriotic Martyrdom in Nordic Propaganda during the ,” in Gender and History 2013, 25:1, pp. 150-69. • Michael Roberts, The Swedish Imperial Experience, 1560-1718 (1979), chapter 1 “The making of Empire” and chapter 4, “The unmaking of Empire”. Concentrate on pp. 1-82, 119-122. • Margareta Revera, “The Making of a Civilized Nation”, Svenska livrustskammaren, The Swedish Imperial Experience 1560-1718 (1988), pp. 103-131. • Arnold Barton, Letters from the Promised Land: Swedes in America. • Margareta Matovic, “Maids in Motion: Swedish Women in Dalsland”, and “Embracing a Middle- Class Life”, in Peasant Maids – City Women: From the European Countryside to Urban America, ed. Christiane Harzig (1997). • Stig Ramel, “From Horn to Bernadotte”, in Scandinavians in Old and New Lands, eds. Philip Anderson et al, pp. 1-16. • Gunnar Broberg & Matthias Tudén, “Introduction”; Peter Weingart, “Science and Political Culture: Eugenics in Comparative Perspective”, Paul Weindling, “International Eugenics: Swedish Sterilization in Context” and Nils Roll-Hansen, “Eugenics in Scandinavia After 1945: Change of Values and Growth in Knowledge”, pp. 141-143, 163-176, 179-197, and 199-212 in Theme Issue: Scandinavian Eugenics, Scandinavian Journal of History 1999, vol. 24:2. • Steven Koblik, “Sweden’s Attempts to Aid Jews 1939-1945”, Scandinavian Studies 56, 1984. • Steven Koblik, The Stones Cry Out: Sweden’s response to the persecution of the Jews, 1933-1945 (1988). • Bo Stråth, “Poverty, neutrality and welfare: three key concepts in the modern foundation myth of Sweden”, in Myth and memory in the construction of community (2000, pp. 375-402). • Johan Östling, “The rise and fall of small-state realism: Sweden and the Second World War”, in Henrik Stenius & Mirja Österberg & Johan Östling, Nordic narratives of the second world war 2011. • Alf Johansson, “Sweden: The Committed Neutral”, in Christian Leitz, ed., Nazi German and Neutral Europe During the Second World War, pp. 49-80. • Robert Dalsjö, "The hidden rationality of Sweden's policy of neutrality during the Cold War". Cold War History 14 (2): 175–194. Taylor and Francis on-line. • Lindbom, Anders. “Dismantling the Social Democratic Welfare Model? Has the Swedish Welfare State Lost its Defining Characteristics?” Scandinavian Political Studies 24:3, 2001, pp. 171-193. • Additional suggestions for research-paper material available from the teacher – just ask.

General overview of course structure: Each week introduces a new theme. The first class of the week will be a combination of lecture and seminar; the second class will be devoted to seminar discussion (with elements of lecture only if these are needed to supply necessary background information).

Aug. 26: Introduction The creation of the Sweden as a new Protestant nation: Gustav Vasa, Sweden’s “Founding Father”. Lecture.

• Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden, chapter 1: “An Introduction”, pp. 1-11.

Recommended: • Uffe Östergård, “The Geopolitics of Nordic Identity”, in The Cultural Construction of Norden, eds. Sörensen & Stråth (1997), pp. 26-41. This work puts Sweden in its Scandinavian context. Consider the very different experiences of the various Scandinavian countries – and how these may have affected relations on the peninsula.

Aug 30: “New Delaware”: An Early-Modern Intermezzo It did not take long for Sweden to try to expand out into the world. Others were establishing colonies: why not Sweden? With the help of Dutch entrepreneurs, an American venture was attempted. It was short-lived, but deeply influenced Swedish attitudes towards indigenous peoples – both in the US and at home. Lecture and short discussion of readings.

• Gunlög Fur, “Colonial fantasies – American Indians, indigenous peoples, and a Swedish discourse of innocence”, in National Identities Jan. 2016, 18:1, pp. 11-33.

Recommended: • Magdalena Naum & Jonas Nordin, Scandinavian colonialism and the rise of modernity: small-time agents in a global arena, 2013: “Colonialism and Swedish history – unthinkable connections?”, “Sweden and America; Sweden in Delaware Valley: every-day life and identities in New Sweden”, “Sweden Borderland in the Middle: The Delaware Colony on the Atlantic Coast”, “There and Back Again – The Material Culture of New Sweden”.

Sept 2: The Rise and Fall of Sweden as a Great Power. How Could It Be Done? How did Sweden, a small, poor, recently-created state, manage to take the field so successfully in the Thirty Years’ War? What was warfare like in that era; what did the success bring Sweden; what did it cost? Lecture, brief discussion.

• Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden, chapters 2 & 3, pp. 11-63. • Michael Howard, War in European History (OUP 1979), pp. 54-62; gives specifics on why Gustav II Adolf was able to raise the army he did (insights into the history of armies and war technology!).

Recommended: • Henningsen, “The Swedish Construction of Nordic Identity” in War experience, self image and national identity, eds. Stig Ekman and Nils Edling, pp. 91-120, gives the early-modern attempts to establish Sweden on the world map, culturally. • Andreas Marklund, “The Manly Sacrifice: Martial Manliness and Patriotic Martyrdom in Nordic Propaganda during the Great Northern War,” in Gender and History 2013, 25:1, pp. 150-69. Goes through modern types of pro-war propaganda, and notes that much of it was in use during the 1600s, as well. Available through Wiley On-Line.

Sept 6: Life on the Battle-Field.

Visit, with teacher, to Armémuseet (walking distance to DIS), where we will concentrate on one exhibit: “War and Peace 1500-1800”, with special emphasis on the 30 Years’ War and on the experiences of the common soldier. The “Trophies” exhibit will give you an idea of one good reason why Swedes were so ready to invade the Continent. The museum is open until 8 p.m. for those who would like to linger – and has a nice café.

Sept 9: And How Could It Then All Be Lost? Sweden was not destined to make the Baltic a Swedish pond. Peter and Catherine the Great controlled a new Russia against whom Sweden could not contend. The loss of Finland to Russia was the final blow. How was Sweden to remake itself after the subsidence of its once-proud warrior aristocracy? Lecture, brief discussion.

Recommended: • Michael Roberts, The Swedish Imperial Experience, 1560-1718 (1979), chapter 1 “The making of Empire” and chapter 4, “The unmaking of Empire”. Concentrate on pp. 1-82, 119-122. • Margareta Revera, “The Making of a Civilized Nation”, Svenska livrustskammaren, The Swedish Imperial Experience 1560-1718 (1988), pp. 103-131.

• First 2-page paper due

Sept. 20: The Great 19th Century Changes: Sweden Creates its Modern Self Sweden was effectually re-founded during the 1700s and early 1800s. Norway was “acquired” as a sort of compensation for Finland; otherwise, the elites turned inward, seeking to develop the country’s economy and society. There was little to be done about Sweden’s poverty; but its own, particular nature and culture became the focus of new national pride. Lecture.

• Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden, chapter 4, pp. 63-93. Choose one: • Arnold Barton, “From warfare to welfare state: Sweden’s search for a new identity”, in Scandinavian Studies Fall 2005, pp. 315-326. • Orvar Löfgren, “The nationalization of culture”, Ethnologia Europaea No. 19, 1989, 20 pp. • Orvar Löfgren, “Know your country: a comparative perspective on tourism and nation building in Sweden,” in Being elsewhere: tourism, consumer culture, and identity in Modern Europe, eds. Shelley Baranowski and Ellen Furlough (1990), pp. 137-153.

Recommended: • Per Anders Fogelström, City of My Dreams (2000 [1960]). An excellent introduction to 19th century Sweden – when to escape to Stockholm was (it was hoped!) to escape the very hard life of a poor farmer. Gives a vivid account of work, life, friendship and love. Typical for the time: the author is a social democrat, and the way forward, for the hero, will be through workers’ power. If you want to read excerpts, try chapter 1 (at least pp. 11-65), and chapter 2 (pp. 145-177 in particular).

Sept. 21: Fied-trip, half-day. Visit to Tyresö Slott. We will take a bus, straight south from Stockholm, to one of the Great Houses of the : Tyresö. We alight at their chapel, and then take a short walk around their extensive grounds, including their classic pear- and apple orchards, and along the shore of the Mälaren. We will have a guided tour in the Mansion itself, where the layers of history will be peeled back for us. A fika at a courtyard café – or lunch, for those who chose to linger on – will conclude the excursion.

Sept 23: Sweden Re-Creates Itself Discussion of this week’s readings.

Sept. 27: Sweden in America - and America in Sweden One blow to Swedish self-esteem was the loss of massive numbers of emigrants to the . The state vacillated: was it good to be rid of the poor, or did it hurt the nation? The poor, meanwhile, found new lives in the United States, extending Swedish family ties across the Atlantic and establishing a popular love for things American throughout Sweden.

• Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden, chapter 5, pp. 93-122. • Wilhelm Moberg, The Emigrants, (1995 [1949]), “About a wheat field and a bowl of porridge” and “A peasant bows for the last time”, pp. 91-108, 153-163 in this edition. Fast, but moving reading.Tom O’Dell, “Chevrolet … That’s a real raggarbil! The American car and the production of Swedish identities”, Journal of Folklore Research 30, pp 61-74. • Youtube films showing modern Swedes’ nostalgic recreation of 1950s USA.

Recommended: • Arnold Barton, Letters from the Promised Land: Swedes in America (choose 50 pages). What did Swedes like – what astounded them – what disappointed them in “the promised land”? • Margareta Matovic, “Maids in Motion: Swedish Women in Dalsland”, and “Embracing a Middle- Class Life”, in Peasant Maids – City Women: From the European Countryside to Urban America, ed. Christiane Harzig (1997). Very illuminating about the life of Swedish peasant women in northern Dalarna and then in working-class Chicago. It was no dance on roses in either case! • Stig Ramel, “From Horn to Bernadotte”, in Scandinavians in Old and New Lands, eds. Philip Anderson et al, eds., pp. 1-16. A short and concise overview, useful facts.

• Second 2-page paper due

Sept. 30: Sweden and America Discussion of this week’s readings, with insights from the papers you’ve written.

Oct. 4: Between the Wars: The Middle Way and Swedish Social Democracy The social democrats allied with Farmers’ Party in order to take political power in Scandinavia -- saving the peninsula from the political chaos that weakened so many Continental democracies. They immediately instituted pro-worker economic and social- welfare measures. Not Communist – and certainly not Fascist – the Swedes were proud to be known as those of the “middle way”, determined to bend, but not break, the capitalist system. Lecture.

• Marquis Childs, The Middle Way (1961 [1936]). Read: “Introduction”, “Low Cost Housing”, “The State as Monopolist”, “Liquor Control that Works”, and “Socialists, Kings and Capitalists”. This sounds like a lot of reading, but it’s easy going: Childs is an enthusiastic journalist. This book sold out immediately, to every-one’s surprise, and established Sweden on the world map as a source of inspiration – or deep dislike. It was, in part, in answer to this book that President Eisenhower’s administration promulgated the counter-image of Sweden as a degenerate land of alcoholism, suicide, and free sex. Choose one: • Jonas Frykman, “Pure and rational: the hygienic vision. A study of the cultural transformation in the 1930s, the New Man.” In Ethnologica Scandinavica 1981, pp. 36-63. • Timothy Tilton, “A Swedish Road to Socialism”, The American Political Science Review 72:2, June 1979. • Sondra R. Herman, “Children, Feminism, and Power: Alva Myrdal and Swedish Reform”, Journal of Women’s History 4 (Fall 1992), 82–112.

Oct. 7: Why was the Middle Way so attractive? Discussion of this week’s readings.

Oct. 18: The Dark Side of Swedish Modernity Although Swedes like to look at the increasing state concern for national health as purely positive, others argue that biopolitics can have drastic consequences. In the 1990s, Swedes were disturbed and shocked by being reminded of a very painful example.

• Gunnar Broberg, “Eugenics in Sweden”, in Broberg & Roll-Hansen, eds., Eugenics and the Welfare State: Sterilization Policy in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland (1996), pp. 77-138.

Recommended: • Gunnar Broberg & Matthias Tudén, “Introduction”; Peter Weingart, “Science and Political Culture: Eugenics in Comparative Perspective”, Paul Weindling, “International Eugenics: Swedish Sterilization in Context” and Nils Roll-Hansen, “Eugenics in Scandinavia After 1945: Change of Values and Growth in Knowledge”, pp. 141-143, 163-176, 179-197, and 199-212 in Theme Issue: Scandinavian Eugenics, Scandinavian Journal of History 1999, vol. 24:2.

Oct. 21: The Politics of the Body in the Modern State. Discussion of this week’s readings.

Oct. 25: In-class midterm

Oct. 26: Field trip half-day. Skansen and Nrodiska museet. This outdoor museum was created in the late 19th century in order to celebrate “Swedishness” – the essence of which, it was held (here as elsewhere), lay in “ever-unchanging” peasant culture. Although this view of Swedish culture has been modified since, many Swedes remain deeply nostalgic for what seems an ultra-Swedish, idyllic, Astrid-Lindgren-like country-side past. Come and experience the Swedish dream, schooled, here, by a very modern dedication to historical authenticity, at the out-door museum of Skansen. As it may be cold, we’ll make the visit short. We will then have time to visit Nordiska museet, which gives a wonderful in-door picture of Swedish every-day (and high) life through the centuries.

Oct. 28: World War Two, Neutrality and Moral Authority Sweden was neutral during both World Wars –while Denmark on one side, and Norway on the other, were invaded – and Finland fought on the German side. Yet Sweden emerged from the war with its moral stance unimpaired – even strengthened. How was this possible?

• Rune Johansson, “The Construction of Swedishness”, Bo Stråth, “Neutrality as self-awareness”, and Karlsson, “The Holocaust as Politics”, in The Swedish success story? eds. Knut Almqvist & Kay Glans (2004), pp. 109-120, 147-160, 241-251. • Sörensen & Stråth “Introduction” and Alf Johansson, “Neutrality and modernity: The second world war and Sweden’s national identity”, in War experience, self image and national identity, eds. Stig Ekman and Nils Edling, pp. 1-24, 163-185.

Recommended: • Steven Koblik, “Sweden’s Attempts to Aid Jews 1939-1945”, Scandinavian Studies 56, 1984. • Steven Koblik, The Stones Cry Out: Sweden’s response to the persecution of the Jews, 1933-1945 (1988). • Bo Stråth, “Poverty, neutrality and welfare: three key concepts in the modern foundation myth of Sweden”, in Myth and memory in the construction of community (2000, pp. 375-402). Johan Östling, “The rise and fall of small-state realism: Sweden and the Second World War”, in Henrik Stenius & Mirja Österberg & Johan Östling, Nordic narratives of the second world war 2011. • Alf Johansson, “Sweden: The Committed Neutral”, in Christian Leitz, ed., Nazi German and Neutral Europe During the Second World War, pp. 49-80.

Nov. 8: Small Countries and Great Wars. Discussion of the above readings.

Nov. 11: Wealth, Cold War and Welfare During the post-war era, Sweden became known internationally for its neutrality, its “third way” welfare state, its labor-market peace, and its wealth. (In the United States, this inappropriately positive view of a “socialist” country was countered by pointing to the country’s sexual immorality, suicide and alcoholism.) What was this “golden age” of Swedish history like?

• Byron Nordstrom, The History of Sweden, chapter 6 pp. 123-156.Robert Dalsjö, "The hidden rationality of Sweden's policy of neutrality during the Cold War". Cold War History 14 (2): 175– 194. Taylor and Francis on-line. A good overview, and rather interesting exercises in “what-if” history as well. It should be pointed out that the majority of the Swedish population did not think the Soviet Union would ever attack, and so ignored the whole thing. • Additional readings on economics of post-war welfare state TBA.

• Third 2-page paper due

Nov. 15: The Golden Age? Discussion of the above readings.

Nov. 18: Facing Globalization: Sweden, EU, and the Neo-Liberal Revolution In the 1980s, Sweden’s social-democratic complacency was shaken – for ever. Globalization hit Swedish industry hard; the welfare state came under attack. Swedish politicians reacted by embracing neo-liberal economic policies. Yet the population remains strongly attached to the welfare state. Meanwhile, Sweden’s proud, neutral “third way” lost much of its rationale with the 1989 Fall of the Wall. What international role could the country now assume?

• Jenny Andersson, “Nordic Nostalgia and Nordic Light: the Swedish model as Utopia 1930–2007”, Scandinavian Journal of History, 2009(34):3, 229–245. JSTOR. • Einhorn, Eric & John Logue. “Can the Scandinavian Model Adapt to Globalization?” Scandinavian Studies Vol. 76, 2004. Pp. 501-535. • Pontusson, Jonas. "Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World." James Cronin, George Ross and James Shoch, eds., Futures of the Left.

Recommended: • Lindbom, Anders. “Dismantling the Social Democratic Welfare Model? Has the Swedish Welfare State Lost its Defining Characteristics?” Scandinavian Political Studies 24:3, 2001, pp. 171-193. This is for the dedicated person, who wants numbers and models as to what happened to the Swedish welfare state. Wiley On-Line.

Nov. 22: The world after 1990. Discussion of the above readings.

Nov. 29: The Refugee “Crisis”: Right-Wing Populism as the Nordic Future? Much of Swedish prosperity had been built with immigrant labor. But now voters fear a darker future; they long for a lost, all-Swedish utopia; they feel that the government is powerless in the face of global powers. Might this – or do other factors? – explain the rise of right-wing xenophobic parties in Sweden, indeed throughout Europe?

• Johan Svanberg, “Ethnic Encounters, Narratives, and Counter-narratives,” Reaching a State of Hope: Refugees, Immigrants and the Swedish Welfare State, 1930–2000, ed. Mikael Byström & Pär Frohnert (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2013), 190–208. • Charles Weston, ”Racism and multiculturalism: The Swedish response to immigration.” In: Idem., Racism, xenophobia and the academic response: European perspectives. Stockholm: Centre for Research in International Migration and Ethnic Relations, conference proceedings, 2001. • Sven Tägil, “Ethno-national conflict and cooperation in the Nordic countries”. In: State and minorities: a symposium on national processes in Russia and Scandinavia. Eds. Veniamin Alekseev & Sven Lundkvist. Ekaterinburg, 1996.

Dec. 2: The future of Sweden in the world. Discussion of the above readings.

Dec. 6: Summary and final discussion (including, if time permits, presentations of subjects of individual research paper).

Dec. 9: Final paper due!

Congratulations on completed class!