The Oxford Handbook of Swedish Politics provides a state of the art analysis of political development in Sweden. Covering all essential aspects of politics in Sweden, this volume provides detailed accounts of policy making, governance, institutional arrangements, foreign relations, electoral behavior, the party system, the public administration, the constitutional framework, and the welfare state. The Handbook shows how many of the features that once were exceptional to Sweden, for example, the welfare state, the consensual policy making, the historical compromise between capital and labor, and the dominance of social democracy, are less prominent today compared to a few decades ago although they are still certainly present. Global forces, increasing affluence, and an ideological shift towards neo-liberalism have contributed to making Sweden more of an average European industrialized democracy.
The Handbook is divided into ten thematic Sections with four chapters and an Introduction in each Section. Thus, each theme is studied from different perspectives in order to provide the reader with a more multi-faceted picture of the political development in each theme.

Jon Pierre is Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg and Professor of Public Governance at the University of Melbourne. He is author, co-author, editor, and co-editor of more than 25 books. Jon Pierre is editor of Debating Governance (Oxford University Press, 2000) and co-author (with Guy Peters) of Governance, Politics and the State (Palgrave, 2000) and Governing Complex Societies (Palgrave, 2005). His most recent books include Globalization and Governance (Edward Elgar, 2013) and (with Bengt Jacobsson and G?ran Sundstr?m) Governing the Embedded State (Oxford University Press, 2015). His work has also appeared in journals like Governance, Journal of Politics, Journal of Public Administration and Theory and Journal of European Public Policy.