Across Europe, the prospect of a rapidly shrinking workforce has put increased labor migration back on the political agenda. However, for many on the left, concerns exist that less restrictive labor migration policies threaten core features of the social democratic project. This is perhaps clearest in Sweden, which in late 2008 adopted a liberal approach to third-country national labor migration, allowing employers to hire freely from outside the European Union. Defending the Swedish Model explores the debate leading up to this reform, focusing on the preferences of the Swedish Social Democratic Party (SAP) and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). While generally positive to the economic potential of increased labor migration, these allies remained highly skeptical towards calls from employers and bourgeois parties for liberalization.
Bucken-Knapp argues that the SAP and LO develop their labor migration policy preferences on the basis of whether specific reform alternatives are perceived as being consistent with, or as undermining, the Swedish model. In the case of third-country nationals, both allies considered liberalization a threat to full employment aims, instead seeking to preserve an influential role for the state labor market board and organized labor. Bucken-Knapp also focuses on the Swedish labor migration debate prior to the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, showing how SAP concerns over potential abuse of the universal welfare state led to its support for transitional arrangements. Defending the Swedish Model illuminates the challenges faced by social democrats and trade unions when considering the need for increased labor migration.
By:
Gregg Bucken-Knapp
Imprint: Lexington Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 238mm,
Width: 163mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 397g
ISBN: 9780739138168
ISBN 10: 0739138162
Pages: 178
Publication Date: 24 September 2009
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Chapter 1 Chapter One. Labor Migration and Migration Policy Chapter 2 Chapter Two. Labor Migration and the Preservation of the Swedish Model Chapter 3 Chapter Three. Rejecting Calls for Deregulation of Labor Migration Policy: LO, the SAP, and the 2002 Parliamentary Election Campaign Chapter 4 Chapter Four. The Battle to Preserve an Incentive-Compatible Labor Migration Policy Chapter 5 Chapter Five. Labor Migration and the Eastward Enlargement of the European Union: Understanding the Divergent Preferences of the SAP and LO Chapter 6 Chapter Six. Labor Migration and the Swedish Model, At Home and Abroad
Gregg Bucken-Knapp is senior lecturer in politics at the University of Stirling, UK.
Reviews for Defending the Swedish Model: Social Democrats, Trade Unions, and Labor Migration Policy Reform
Defending the Swedish Model provides an insightful and highly original account of Swedish labour migration policy. Gregg Bucken-Knapp's close specification of the relationship between migration, labour markets and the welfare state also means that this book will be of interest to all scholars of contemporary European migration policy and politics.--Geddes, Andrew
