Atlas / Comparisons / Nordic Social Democracy vs Thatcherism
Nordic Social Democracy and Thatcherism
Measured distance across six axes
Opposed programmes with little shared ground. They agree within three points on SC. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, CU, AU, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Folkhemmet | Thatcherism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −05 | +09 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −06 | +06 | 12 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| AU · Organisation of power | −06 | +02 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +02 | +05 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −04 | +03 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| CH · Method and tempo | −08 | +03 | 11 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Folkhemmet · EC −05
Very high redistribution inside a very open market economy. The transfer level pulls left, the ownership and trade regime pulls right.
- Documented act or statuteSweden has no wealth tax since 2007 and no inheritance tax since 2004.
- Documented act or statutePublicly funded school vouchers admit for-profit private providers.
Thatcherism · EC +09
Deep privatisation and financial deregulation places this near the market pole.
- Documented act or statuteTelecoms, gas, water, electricity, steel and airports were sold between 1984 and 1990.
- Documented act or statuteCouncil housing was sold to tenants at statutory discounts from 1980.
Folkhemmet · CU −06
Among the most liberal social legislation in the world, adopted early and by consensus.
- Documented act or statuteSweden legalised same-sex partnership in 1995 and marriage in 2009; Denmark was first in the world in 1989.
- Documented act or statuteIndividual taxation, universal childcare and parental leave quotas designed around dual-earner households.
Thatcherism · CU +06
Coded +6: an explicit programme of moral restoration alongside the economic one.
- Documented act or statuteSection 28, enacted in 1988, prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Nordic Social Democracy
1932– · Sweden, Norway, Denmark
Universal welfare, full employment and centralised wage bargaining, inside a market economy and a liberal constitution.
Thatcherism
1979–1990 · Britain
Roll back the state, break union power, sell public assets, restore the authority of law, order and family.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas