Taken from THE WEEK magazine, October 24, 2003, p. 13
"Trouble in the Swedish Paradise", by: editor(s)
"Even in Viking times, the King was referred to as 'first among equals," and Viking women had a higher social status than women elsewhere. In modern times, the Swedes were among the first to shun war. They fought (and lost) their last war in 1814, and ever since have espoused a doctrine of 'nonalignment in peace aiming at neutrality in war.' The national philosophy was framed in 1928 by Per Albin Hansson, chairman of the Social Democrat party, which has dominated Swedish politics ever since. In what he called his Volksheim (People's Home) theory, Hansson likened Swedish society to a family. Any conflict, he reasoned, should be resolved by sitting around a table and reaching consensus, with every individual subordinating his interests to those of the family as a whole."
