Sweden

This course gives an introduction to the comparative study of welfare state regimes, especially discussing the effect of welfare state regimes on social inequality. It takes its starting-point in Gøsta Esping-Andersen's well-known typology of welfare regimes, and then proceeds into some of the various strands of research that explicitly or implicitly build on this typology.

The course deals with the mechanisms behind and the effects of international trade. To begin with, the gains from trade, as well as a few key results relating to trade policy, are derived under the assumptions of a generic neoclassical general equilibrium model. Then a few specific varieties of that standard model are utilised to highlight effects of differences in technology and factor endowments between trading countries on trade flows as well as incomes and their distribution. In this context, claims about the effects of trade liberalization on inequality and poverty are analyzed. The course also gives an introduction to more recent developments in trade theory (taking imperfect competition, product differentiation and increasing returns to scale into account) which add other explanations for trade and its effects as well as a perspective on the role of multinational corporations.

The course provides an introduction to Swedish politics. Topics discussed include the political system in general, the constitution, the government, and the multiple Swedish political parties. Both historical and contemporary perspectives are employed in the course. Emphasis is on the role of Sweden as a small country in a global context, and as a member of the European Union and the United Nations. Swedish attributes, such as the “Swedish Model” and the policy of neutrality, are analyzed from an historical perspective as well as with reference to the present situation. Special attention is dedicated to policies concerning issues of gender, refugees, and ethnic pluralism.