Moderate Conservatives won elections in Sweden. A country well known for being a welfare state.

Does this mean that welfare states are getting close to their death? How long can a welfare state survive?

I reckon that welfare states like weden can survive for quite a while. If you look at what it brought them, richest country, best social security, highest level of Uni grads... all in all, they are doing very well.

Besides, in countries like that a newly elected government can't just shut down an entire system. a) Promising this would never get them elected. b) Why would they, things are going well? c) Because legislation works different overhere, you can't change policy in a month. d) The politicians chance but the bureaucrats doing the actual execution of policy remain the same. And they have many ways of thwarting new policy.

Nah it will to 99% still remain a welfare state, just some minor changes as it seems now. Have to remember that there's actually 4 political parties in an allience. Should hopefully be better for the soldiers with this allience if they can start to fully agree which I never think will happen.

I hope for the same to happen in Norway at the next election, the current socialistic-left, labour, centre party coalition is pulling in each end and the rope is thightning around the tax payers necks...

I think Sweden will prosper with the new gouvernment, it was time for a change.

Crazy Europeans. You guys always talk about new governments and such. Multi-Party Alliances within the government. I'll never understand. I like my American Government, SIMPLE. Been the same one since March 4, 1789. Well, good luck and I hope that those with liberal/socialist governments fix the problem and adopt something that doesn't involve a nanny state.

Why would the sweedes change something that seems to be working for them. Socailism is working for sweden why change it? Right system for the right country.

Interesting I was looking for a picture of some Swedish women because well you know the stereotype...hehehe...anyways on a sad note I found this...

http://www.africancrisis.org/ZZZ/ZZZ_News_6510.asp

I wonder if Sweden isnt the paradise it is made out to be...

Upon looking more
http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/09...-in-crime.html

Now I havent really started looking into this and yes those articles are about a year old...But how much can change in a year when it is at that level...Perhaps this new "government" will take care of the problem...

So you ask why would the sweedes change something that has been working...well I dont think it has been working....

-edit
More links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Sweden

Look the system that didnt work
http://laissez-fairerepublic.com/Sweden.htm

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/ma...about_swe.html

From the looks of it Swedens welfare state isnt so hot....

Originally Posted by 5.56X45mm

Crazy Europeans. You guys always talk about new governments and such. Multi-Party Alliances within the government. I'll never understand. I like my American Government, SIMPLE. Been the same one since March 4, 1789. Well, good luck and I hope that those with liberal/socialist governments fix the problem and adopt something that doesn't involve a nanny state.

Give me a green card and I will sort my bags immediately

Originally Posted by sunb!

I hope for the same to happen in Norway at the next election, the current socialistic-left, labour, centre party coalition is pulling in each end and the rope is thightning around the tax payers necks...

I think Sweden will prosper with the new gouvernment, it was time for a change.

Hehe that seems to be a problem with Labour parties all over, generally we have centre right governments but for the last decade or so we have seen a switching of roles to the point that our old centre left party is now a centre right and the old centre right is preaching left wing policies.

I think in New Zealand we tend to vote parties out of power once we are sick of them rather than vote a new one in.

Political parties change all the time, i bet you the center right parties will lose to the left in the next few years anyway, i'm pretty sure that see-sawing pattern has been the norm for quite some time.

I think the scandinavian countries have been doing well for themselves for quite some time, but it's probably due to their mentality of concentrating on domestic matters with a relatively small population. The one downside i see is the high taxes, but if you have many of your needs taken care of by an efficient national apparatus, then i think you don't have much of a problem.