Flexicurity - Europeiska begreppet som väckte känslor - En studie om flexicurity begreppets inverkan på den politiska debatten i Sverige

Abstract

In the beginning of the 21th century the debate about flexicurity, which in other words combines flexibility and security on the labour market, was increasingly blowing up. Both Denmark and the Netherlands had labor markets which were considered being within the frames of flexicurity. But there were not only positive words about flexicurity. At the same time some people saw flexicurity as a neo-liberal agenda and a way to make Europe more neo-liberal. This was because flexicurity was a way to combining neo-liberal and keynesianstic thoughts, where the flexibility stands for the neo-liberal and security stands for the keynesianistic. These thoughts increased when the European Commission communicated their flexicurity strategy to the member states and the discussion began to start in Sweden. This thesis studies the impact of the European Commissions flexicurity communication on the political discussion in Sweden in relation to the political right-left scale. Further the study shows that flexicurity had some impact on the political parties and the political discussion concerning labour markets policies. It also shows that some of the political parties began to change opinions especially in matters concerning unemployment insurance, labor law and lifelong learning.