Sweden and Latin America: comments on the paper by Professor Olof Ruin

Abstract

Is there such a thing as a “Swedish model”? The term is used several times in Professor Olof Ruin’s paper, “Political Development in Sweden”. Anyone who talks of a model admits the possibility that proposals based on the historical experience of one country (or countries) may be applicable to the experience of another country (or countries). And anyone who is familiar with the history of Latin American thought and politics knows that, in this sense, the idea of a “model” can prompt interesting —and at times disquieting— reactions in the minds of Latin Americans.