ABSTRACT
Nordic political culture is credited with features such as being orientated towards compromise, based upon a mutual understanding of equalness, and a strong belief in related ground rules which regulate political discourse. The notion of non violence enshrines the whole approach. The Swedish writer Per Olov Enquist speaks of “a world based upon the notion of a society we are with, not against.”2 Hans L. Zetterberg, once editor-in-chief of Svenska Dagbladet, states that “[i]ts key word is (the intranslatable) lagom, which means both ‘reasonable’ and ‘middleroad.’”3 Arne Ruth, the then head of the feuilleton of Dagens Nyheter, states in a more specific manner:
Untranslatable in its exact sense, lagom means just right, as well as in moderations sufficient, as well as appropriate and suitable. [...] The expression is said to derive from the drinking habits of ancient Sweden, where the jug of beer was passed around a group of men; ‘making the rounds’ is gd laget om in Swedish, and according to this etymology, lag-om is short for laget om. At any rate, the image of the drinking bout is a telling metaphor for the moral implications of the word.4
