2024, Vol., No.34

Journal of the Scandinavian Society of Korea 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.21

pISSN : 1229-8646
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jssk

Sweden's housing policy is a model case of the universal housing policy. While many advanced countries have implemented selective housing support policies, commonly referred to as ‘social housing,’ targeted at low-income groups, Sweden has pursued a universal housing policy that also includes middle-class and higher-income groups. A significant portion of the supply and management of rental housing has been handled by non-profit municipal housing companies (allmännyttiga bostadsföretag) owned by local municipalities. This housing policy approach was proposed in the final report of the ‘the Inquiry Committee on the Social Conditions of Housing; Bostadssociala utredningen’, a national inquiry committee active from 1933 to 1947. This paper explains the origins of ‘the Swedish exceptionalism’ in housing policy by describing the background and activities of the Inquiry Committee and analyzing the content of its final report. It shows that progressive economists and architects who shared similar views on housing policy played a leading role in the committee's establishment and activities, laying the foundation for Sweden's post-World War II housing policies. Furthermore, it shows that this housing policy direction was institutionalized through legislation in the late 1940s and physically realized during the ‘Million Homes Program’ implemented between 1965 and 1974.

This study examines the shift in the Danish Social Democratic Party's refugee policies and analyzes the impact of Denmark's hardline approach on Europe and the international community. Led by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the party supported the conservative government's introduction of the "Jewelry Law" and, after taking office, implemented refugee control policies rooted in anti-immigration sentiment, including the forced repatriation of Syrian refugees and the outsourcing of refugee processing. While these measures led to short-term outcomes like a reduction in refugee inflows, they also triggered controversies over alleged violations of international law and human rights. The outsourcing of refugee responsibilities to third countries was particularly criticized as an attempt to shift the burden of protection, raising concerns about introducing a new paradigm for other European nations. The Danish case is a notable example of a left-wing party, traditionally committed to humanitarian values and international solidarity, adopting stricter immigration and refugee policies. It demonstrates how a leftist government may justify embracing conservative immigration measures to sustain the welfare state. The Danish Social Democratic government's strict refugee policies highlight the challenges faced by left-wing parties in Europe and raise questions about how they might shape future approaches to refugee issues across the continent.

This study is divided into two parts: diachronic and synchronic. First, the diachronic study aims to describe how HRM in Swedish companies has changed over the course of the evolution of the Swedish model. Second, the synchronic study that follows aims to examine the distinctive characteristics of HRM in Swedish companies based on the results of the Cranet survey that has examined differences in HRM over 40 countries and identify the cause of these characteristics based on the results of the diachronic study. The results of the literature review show that the historical development of HRM in Swedish companies can be largely divided into three periods: 1) the employee welfare era (1920∼50), 2) the personnel administration era (1950∼80), and finally, 3) the post-bureaucratic HRM era (1980∼present). These three periods were shown to emphasize different discourses, namely, 1) the realization of humanistic values in workplaces, 2) the realization of workplace democracy, and finally, 3) the effective use of human resources to increase companies’ profit. The results of analysis confirms that the characteristics of HRM in Swedish companies are gradually formed under the influence of these three discourses.