ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the argument on the future of the Welfare State. Social welfare policy generated returns much higher than many alternative investments' provided a strong support for the development of the Swedish Welfare State. The Welfare States up to the 1970s were permitted to grow in favourable conditions of economic growth. From the standpoint of social welfare, the general condition today in the globalizing world seems unfavourable. The Scandinavian countries that embarked on welfare reform in the 1990s are thus met by opposition of the people and pressure to change. But such a change then again would meet opposition from the firms' side, too. The mounting fear about the shrinking Welfare State under the tight budget policy was aggravated by the 1990s depression. 'The new role of government should be to secure the truly necessary policies for the welfare of the people, and to secure sufficient freedom for the private sector.'
