ABSTRACT
Swedish non-participation in supranational integration was not, in the main, forced on a reluctant country; only a minority of Swedes hankered after the opportunity to take their place in the Community alongside their European neighbours. The link between the party and organised labour, or at least the blue-collar section of it, has been symbiotic and crucial to the success of each. There is reason to question whether that link is so vital; conflict between the Social Democrats in office and trade unions broke out more frequently after the 1970s. In both theory and application, the labour movement’s approach to the productive economy reached a remarkable level of sophistication. Economic strategy was tremendously comprehensive, encompassing detailed analyses of microeconomic and macroeconomic problems and proposing varied but coherent solutions to them. The means of combating risks, and thus maximising the benefits of international market integration, is “functional integration” of public-policy instruments.
