Sweden

**Sweden**, officially the **Kingdom of Sweden**, is a country in Europe on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Sweden shares land borders with Norway and Finland, and close maritime borders with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Estonia and Latvia.

## History

### Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Century

Sweden was officially neutral during World War I, although, under German pressure, they did take steps which were detrimental to the Allied powers including mining the Oresund channel, thus closing it to Allied shipping, and allowing the Germans to use Swedish facilities and the Swedish cipher to transmit secret messages to their overseas embassies. Sweden also allowed volunteers fighting for the White Guards together with the Germans against the Reds and Russians in the Finnish Civil War, and briefly occupied the Aland islands in co-operation with Germany.

As in the first world war, Sweden remained officially neutral during World War II, although its neutrality during World War II has been disputed. Sweden was under German influence for much of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades. The Swedish government felt that it was in no position to openly contest Germany, and therefore made some concessions. Sweden also supplied steel and machined parts to Germany throughout the war. However, Sweden supported Norwegian resistance, and in 1943 helped rescue Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps.

Sweden was officially a neutral country and remained outside NATO and Warsaw Pact membership during the Cold War, but privately Sweden's leadership had strong ties with the United States and other western governments. Following the war, Sweden took advantage of an intact industrial base, social stability and its natural resources to expand its industry to supply the rebuilding of Europe. Sweden received aid under the Marshall Plan and participated in the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Sweden was one of the founding states of the European Free Trade Area. During the 1960s the EFTA countries were often referred to as the Outer Seven, as opposed to the Inner Six of the then-European Economic Community.

## Government and Politics

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with the Monarch as the head of state, but the role of the monarch is limited to ceremonial and representative functions. Legislative power is vested in the unicameral Riksdag with 349 members. General elections are held every four years, on the second Sunday of September. Legislation may be initiated by the Government or by members of the Riksdag. Members are elected on the basis of proportional representation to a four-year term. The internal workings of the Riksdag is, in addition to the Instrument of Government, regulated by the Riksdag Act. The Government operates as a collegial body with collective responsibility and consists of the Prime Minister — appointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the Riksdag and other cabinet ministers, appointed and dismissed at the sole discretion of the Prime Minister

### Administrative Divisions

Sweden is a unitary state divided into 20 county councils and 290 municipalities. Every county council corresponds to a county with a number of municipalities per county with the exception of Gotland. Municipalities are also divided into a total of 2,512 parishes. These have no official political responsibilities but are traditional subdivisions of the Church of Sweden and still have some importance as census districts for census-taking and elections.

### Foreign Relations

Sweden is a member of the European Union, NATO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Traditionally Sweden has maintained a policy of neutrality, though Russian expansion into Belarus and Ukraine caused Sweden to join NATO in 2015.