Introduction

Sweden, as many other prosperous nations, is presently reassessing its national goals, political culture, and collective identity. Theoretical developments within sociology, social psychology, public choice, and political science are combined to enrich the analysis. Social movements and interest organizations have played crucial roles in Sweden. Their history is also Swedish history and concerns struggles for political recognition and welfare state development and cutbacks. All adults were given the right to vote; political parties began to develop; proportional representation was introduced, and Sweden conducted its first national referendum. These events had positive and negative effects on collective action organizations. The decisionmaking style of the Swedish model was questioned from the late 1950s to the 1990s. Swedish historians have characterized the first age by the terms internationalization, democratization, urbanization, individualization, and industrialization. Swedish political scientists view the second age as a time of internationalization, individualization, postindustrialization, decentralization and marketization.