Trade unions in a changing political context: The case of Sweden

A common feature in almost all Western countries over the last 40 years has been the steady decline in trade union membership and subsequently a decline in the power and influence of unions. Moreover, in many countries trade union strength has relied upon longlasting relationships with social democratic parties or, in a minority of cases, communist parties. The trend over the last decades has been a weakening of traditional ‘working-class’ coalitions. The aim of this article is to discuss to what extent such features also exist in Sweden, a country long regarded as a stronghold of powerful social partners, the so-called Swedish Model. We will show that Sweden is also affected by the wider European trends but that there are important countervailing forces. At the moment, much hinges on the parliamentary election in 2018