ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the internal logic of the welfare state to show how it is possible for Sweden to exact such measures for its own preservation. In Sweden, welfare state formation, broadly speaking, followed a common modernization path similar to Britain, Germany, and the US in which the poor relief of the nineteenth century was radically transformed into a state-run form of governance. Trygghet is an expansive term itself as it connotes not only a sense of economic wellbeing that we associate with the welfare state, but a sense of belonging and attachment to society, a security in social relations and trust. To help preserve the welfare state and its promise of social security, sustainability has become a key operating principle. Neoliberal accounts claim that welfare state retraction has fueled the rise of the penal state, including the criminalization and penalization of migrants.
