Carlsson SAP government — late Swedish model under strain 1986-1991

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Carlsson took over the SAP government after Olof Palme's February 1986 assassination and carried Feldt's "Third Way" programme — a social-democratic pivot toward market-compatible economic management while preserving the universal welfare state. Economic school: late Swedish-model social-democracy with deregulatory overlay; Feldtian pragmatism accepting that the 1982 devaluation stimulus had exhausted itself and that credit, tax, and labour-market rigidities were unsustainable. Left-right axis: centre-left but markedly further right than the Palme/Meidner wage-earner-fund era on financial regulation and tax structure. Core policy content: (i) November 1985 "November revolution" credit-market deregulation (abolition of lending ceilings) bore fruit 1986-1990 fuelling a credit and property boom; (ii) 1990-1991 "century reform" tax reform slashed top marginal rates and broadened base (implemented 1991); (iii) 1989 abolition of foreign-exchange controls; (iv) initial EU-membership application July 1991; (v) early phase of the 1990-1993 banking and currency crisis began with Nyckeln finance-company collapse September 1990. Popularity: SAP won 1988 election with 43.2% on Green wave, then lost 1991 to Bildt-led four-party centre-right coalition (SAP 37.7% — worst result since 1928). Coherence: high within the Feldt programme but the model's collapse into the 1990-1993 crisis exposed the unsustainable mix of deregulated credit with fixed exchange rate and centralised wage bargaining.