Since 1990s, the studies on the Swedish Model and the Swedish social democracy have substantially developed both in quantity and quality in South Korea. There are some important historical backgrounds for that. First, the collapse of the Soviet-East European communist bloc gave great shock to Korean radicals. They came to be more interested in the West European social democracy, especially the Swedish one afterwards. Second, the political democratization in South Korea since 1987 made social democratic ‘reformism’ more reliable and realizable. Third, the Asian financial crisis in 1997 brought about many economic and social problems including the polarization of economy and society, and the increase of poor people. Many researchers and social movement activists came to be more interested in the socioeconomic inequality issues.
Swedish industrial relations and social policies or welfare state have been most popular research topics reflecting the states of Korean society. And the debate on Chaebols reform and ‘the universal welfare state’ discourse have been representative debate and discourse, inspired by the Swedish Model, which have made some political impacts on Korean society.
For Korean researchers in this field to wield more influence on the issues of Korean society, they have to improve their knowledge not only of Swedish society, but also of Korean society. Thus, the studies on the Swedish Model must develop themselves into tales of two countries, Sweden and Korea, not just tales of one country, Sweden.