ABSTRACT
In 2008, the Economist reported that 'BIG-STATE, social-democratic Sweden seems an odd place to look for a free-market revolution. This chapter describes the evolution of the Swedish school system as the result of two significant and systemic U-turns in education policy. The second important turn of the tide occurred around 1990, when Sweden redesigned its welfare-based school model, now 3040 years old, according to a market-oriented model based on individual choice, private alternatives, and competition. A democratic breakthrough had come before the war, but the post-war years witnessed the realization of the Swedish welfare state. The existing private schools were a challenge for the movement towards a unified, comprehensive school system with democratic ambitions. Sweden's historical narrative of the twentieth century is centered on the welfare state as is its educational history. An economic crisis in the early 1990s was a key precursor for the transformation of the welfare state.
