The narrative arc of Francis Sejersted's book is one that is familiar to many scholars of Scandinavian social democracy. The political fortunes of the Norwegian and Swedish Social Democrats are presented in three acts: the first decades of the twentieth century, in which the two parties reject Marxism and ultimately form crucial pacts with both farming and capital in response to the economic crisis of the 1930s; a golden age of social democracy, from shortly after World War II until the end of the 1960s, in which the two parties effectively managed capitalism while simultaneously implementing a broad array of policies intended to foster greater equality of outcome; and the 1970s to the present, in which the hegemony of Norwegian and Swedish social democracy has been greatly diminished, and in which the two parties have been left programmatically uncertain in the face of new political and economic challenges, both at home and abroad. Drawing upon an extensive array of research from both the social sciences and humanities, Sejersted delivers an account that is almost encyclopedic in terms of the topics reviewed, and one that is likely to become regularly consulted by those seeking a primer in the history of Scandinavian social democracy. It will be, quite simply, the go-to book on the topic.
The author regards the comparative treatment of the Norwegian and Swedish cases as being especially useful for assessing claims from those scholars, such as Sheri Berman (in The Social Democratic Moment, 1998), who argue that the decision by Swedish Social Democrats to embrace democratic revisionism is crucial for understanding their success, in contrast to the path of the German SPD (the Social Democratic Party). Sejersted notes that had Sweden been swapped out for Norway, such a conclusion would have required tempering, as “Norwegian Social Democrats clung to their Marxism for a long time, but were nevertheless almost as successful as the Swedes.” (p. 5). However, as a result of a flirtation with antiparliamentarism and class struggle in the late 1920s, the Norwegian Social Democrats suffered a strong setback in the 1930 parliamentary election. Voters returned to them in 1933, after the party had rejected the antiparliamentary route. While the Norwegian Social Democrats may have backed a Marxist line for a longer period of time, it is not support for these ideas that explains the party's success. Rather, it is the eventual abandonment of a dogmatic stance and the emphasis on developing a pragmatic crisis response. In that sense, the ideas underpinning the rise to hegemony for the two parties were ultimately more alike.
A frequent strategy of the author is to highlight differences in national context when tracing the evolution of the Social Democrats in both settings, or in discussing specific episodes of policy reform. One example is his emphasis on the institution of negotiative corporatism (p. 227) in Sweden as being solely a forum for social partners, whereas Norway's variant also afforded the state a seat at the table. A second is the manner in which Sejersted stresses the differing levels of strength held by key societal actors, with a point being made of historically more powerful Swedish capitalists, yet a substantially stronger role for the state in Norway. Readers hoping to develop a nuanced appreciation of the situation faced by Norwegian and Swedish Social Democrats will, of course, value the manner in which the author repeatedly details national differences in context. However, comparativists may periodically wonder whether Sejersted, in highlighting cross-national differences, is also demonstrating the impact of these structural, institutional, and other forces in the specific cases under consideration. Here, the admirably comprehensive scope of the book periodically works to the slight disadvantage of the author. The large number of relatively concise vignettes in the history of Norwegian and Swedish social democracy occasionally lack analytical bite, serving more as summaries of key events in which the two Social Democratic parties have been central players. While not decreasing their utility for readers as a reference tool, Sejersted's sketches are not always full-fledged causal arguments.
For fans of Scandinavian social democracy, Sejersted's depiction of its difficulties in adapting to the new political and economic landscape post-1970 is not always cheerful reading. In tones reminiscent of Joseph Heller, the author informs us that “something happened around 1970…. The old sense of unity shattered” (p. 333). Indeed, Serjersted labels the 1970s the “decade of hesitation and fumbling” (p. 334). By the 1980s, according to the author, public faith in the almighty state faltered, “leaving more room for the market and the civil society” (p. 491). In this final third of the book, the two Social Democratic Parties struggle while attempting to navigate this new political terrain. The challenges arrive one after the other here: youth rebellion, environmental politics, industrial democracy, international economic crisis, debates over European Union membership, defections from administrative corporatism, a greater emphasis on freedom of choice in social policy, and much more.
It is not only political tides that shift in this latter section of the book, however. It is also Sejersted's tone. Throughout the book's early sections, there are many moments in which the author injects an almost under-the-radar sense of humor when characterizing political developments. Here, though, while the same rigorous treatment of the material dominates, the mood becomes almost wistful, as when Sejersted reflects on challenges to the Social Democratic welfare state in the 1980s by noting: “The happy expectation of at some point being able to reach the goals had gotten lost along the way. So when the goal was reached, the future was lost” (p. 491).
Despite this somewhat downbeat assessment, Sejersted underscores that contemporary events have taken only a limited toll on the fortunes of Norwegian and Swedish social democracy, arguing that the parties remain the biggest in their respective party systems, that the trade union organizations have “preserved much of their strength,” and that the “Social Democratic social contract” has remained largely intact (p. 387). At least in terms of electoral politics, there is certainly an argument to be made that Serjersted's conclusion has not always been borne out by recent trends. Indeed, while the Norwegian Labor Party has recovered impressively from a disastrous showing at the polls in 2001 and currently holds the reigns of government, an equally positive picture cannot be painted for the Swedish Social Democrats. The party is only now showing signs of recovery following two solid losses at the polls in 2006 and 2010, and is at the very early stages of developing a strategy that may allow it to regain power in an era when voters have viewed the governing non-socialist Alliance as an effective manager of Sweden's economy.
Assessing recent trends from such close range is, of course, never straightforward, but this hardly detracts from the commanding historical overview of Norwegian and Swedish social democracy that Sejersted has produced. This book should find its way onto the shelves of every scholar of Scandinavian social democracy, serving as both a highly valuable reference tool and an inspiration for research questions that have yet to be formulated.
